The Boy Who Lived
by Gatalicious
Summary: What if when Voldemort heard the prophecy, he decided that not only would he go after Neville and Harry, but every child born in that year? What if he decided to kill all children born the year before and the year after as well, just to be on the safe side? Harry Potter is the only boy who lived through the Purge, no one knows why. How will a young Harry Potter now cope? No romance
1. Chapter 1 - No One Knows Why

I could not believe this was really happening, I could see it happen with my own two eyes, but I still couldn't believe it. I knew a large grin was splitting my face as I saw Dudley squeal when he saw his new tail and both Petunia and Vernon run after him like headless chickens. All the while, I sat back on the dirty floor of this disgusting hut and ate the oddly-delightful birthday cake that Hagrid brought me.

"Well don' jus' be sat around' Harry, we hafta be on our way. Go' so much to do." Hagrid beamed at me, utterly ignoring the chaos brewing right behind him.

I nodded quickly, swallowed the piece of cake in my hand, jumped up and started to gather all my stuff. After a life with the Dursleys, I was certainly not stupid enough to want to wait around for the for the aftermath fif this debacle particularly considering that for once, they might actually be able to justifiably blame this on me.

I followed Hagird out of the shack in the middle of nowhere and got into Uncle Vernon's boat. It brought me double the joy to think we were leaving them stranded on that island. With a quick tug of his pink umbrella, Hagrid made the boat speed through the water of its own volition. I stared in wonder. As I turned back to face Hagrid, I saw him looking at me. But I mean he was _looking_ at me. There were a few tears gathering in his eyes and he hastily wiped them away.

"Sorry about' tha' Harry, dint mean to startle yeh. It's been so many years and the las' time I saw yeh, yeh were such a tiny little thing and now look at yeh, all grown up and off to Hogwarts. I reckon yeh parents would be mighty proud of yeh." Hagrid blurted out.

I was not really sure why this was such a big deal, but something he said caught my interest immediately. "Can you tell me more about my parents?"

His eyes lit up at the question. "Well, let me tell yeh abou' the time tha' your father slammed into another fella on the field when tryin' to impress yeh mother with his tricks in the air."

Wait, tricks in the air?

#

"I'm still not sure why I had to hide coming through the pub, Hagrid, what's the big deal?" I was annoyed. Hagrid made me hide under his cloak as he swept through the pub. I looked around to where he'd brought me and saw only a dead-end and a trashcan.

"Don' worry abou' tha' Harry. Remember wha' I told yeh this morning. There was a war and your parents died fighting against a very evil wizard. Yeh were the only one…"

"I know I remember." I interrupted, not wanting to revisit those details. It was horrible enough to find out your parents were murdered, but to be the only mysterious survivor. I am not entirely sure how I feel about that yet.

"All those people in the pub." He gently explained. "They would have loved to meet yeh, bu' tha's a lot of attention fer an 11-year-old boy and I dint want yeh to be feeling overwhelmed, Harry."

I sighed and nodded. That made sense, I wouldn't want all those people to pay attention to me either. They were drinking and I had seen Uncle Vernon drunk enough times to know how unpredictable drunk adults could be.

I patted the fringe over my scar and smiled up at Hagrid. "You're right, Hagrid. Thank you."

He waved away my apology. "Enough of all of tha'," he said. He withdrew his umbrella and started tapping the bricks on the wall.

What. Is. Happening. The walls were shaking, the bricks were moving and opening. Just beyond this deadend and trashcan was something I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams.

"Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley."

My head is flitting from left to right as I take in the sights and sounds and smells of this incredible place.

"WATCH OUT!"

I duck my head instinctively as a bunch of owls flew over.

Nobody else seemed to notice this and I just shrugged as I continued to smile and take in the brilliance of all that was around me.

#

As soon as I entered Flourish & Blotts, I saw piles of books everywhere, in bookshelves and towering over themselves in large stacks. There was a pervasive smell of parchment and knowledge. I took out my booklist and began to look around in the various sections, generally wandering about while keeping a look out for familiar titles. A few other people were milling about, but the store was generally empty. After fifteen minutes passed and I didn't find a single book from my booklist, I figured I needed some help. I spotted a man sitting on a stool at the back, bent over a book and pushing his hair out of his eyes every few seconds.

"Excuse me, sir." I asked the bespectacled man behind the counter.

He was reading his book very carefully and my question made him stop. He looked up with a heavy crease in his eyebrows. "Yes, how many I help you?"

"I'm looking for some books," I said.

He tilted his head and focused on me, the crease in his brow deepening. "Well that's a good thing, you are, after all, in a bookstore." He finished his sentence with a flourish of his hands to indicate the towers of books all around us.

My nervous smile began to fade and I wanted nothing more than to dissolve where I was standing. "I'm sorry, it's just, I'm trying to find my books for school and can't find any."

He sighed and went back to reading, his finger pointing to the front of the store. "Hogwarts section is at the front, can't miss it, usually," he said, no longer looking at me.

I turned to where he was pointing and saw a stack of books well displayed in the shop front. I bit my lip not wanting to annoy him further and ran up to the book display he was pointing at. I began to rummage around the books. "Aha!" Finally found it!

Standard Books of Spells Grade 3. That sounded familiar.

I pulled out my booklist from my bag and checked the title against the ones provided, no, I needed Grade 1. This really shouldn't be so hard. Surely, if this bookstore had a designated Hogwarts section, they would have the first-year textbooks front and centre?

I looked around and saw a brunette reading a book very closely. I slowly walked towards her. Deep breaths. This is the first time I would be talking to another student from my new school. There's no Dudley and no Piers to embarrass me and no Dursleys to tell her parents not to let her be friends with me. Hopefully, she will help.

"Um, hi," I said in an unusually high-pitched voice.

The girl snapped up from her book, confused, before she lowered her gaze to look down at me. She broke out into a small smile. "Hello."

I stuck my hands into my pockets as I started to feel my palms sweat, "Hi, um, I was wondering if you knew where I could find first-year textbooks? For Hogwarts, that is."

Her small smile vanished and she looked at me with suspicion. "That's not funny."

I rocked back on the balls of my feet. "Um no, I just, the man at the desk told me to look there." I pointed to the Hogwarts display. "But there are no first-year textbooks there and I-"

With every word I could see her face was becoming harder and harder and finally she cut me off. "Who are you?"

"I'm Harry," I said as quickly as I could.

Her expression froze. "Harry Potter?" She asked.

I nodded uncertainly. She stared right at me, I was beginning to become even more uncomfortable. I cleared my throat and that broke her concentrated staring. "Sorry, I-it's really nice to meet you, Harry. My name is Alicia Spinnet." Her tone sounded odd to me for some reason.

I nodded not sure what to say.

I think she sensed that and launched into action. "Right. Right, you wait right here. I'll go have a word with…with the guy."

I saw her march up to man and break him from his reading. He looked just as annoyed to be dealing with her as he was with me. She had a whispered conversation with him and his eyes bugged out behind his glasses. His head immediately swivelled to look at me and he too, began to stare. I didn't really know what to do, so I just waved uncertainly. He leapfrogged out of his chair, came round the counter and walked right up to me with Alicia hot on his heels.

"Mr Potter, I am so very sorry, I didn't realise you were, well, you," He said all of that very quickly.

"That's okay sir, but can you please point me to the first-year textbooks for Hogwarts?" I asked a little more strongly. The few other people in the store were beginning to notice and look our way and it was making me uncomfortable.

"Ah well, you see…well, we haven't stocked all of them this year," He finished lamely, "We certainly have a few of these books lying around in the back, I can pull them out for you, but there's a couple of updated versions here on your list that we would have to special order."

What? I looked at him with wide eyes and confusion all over my face, "Okay…Is there somewhere else I could find them do you think?"

His face immediately transformed to that of a wounded puppy, like I had just kicked him in the gut. "No need for that, Mr Potter. Are you escorted by someone?"

"Uh yeah, I'm here with Hagrid, he works at Hogwarts."

"Right," the man said with determination, "I will have the missing books ordered and delivered to him. Hagrid's a good person, I'm sure he will pass them on to you."

"Oh, okay then," I said. I pulled out my booklist and handed it over. "That's all of them."

I noticed that his hands were slightly shaking as he took the piece of parchment from me. "Right. Thank you. So sorry again for this, Mr Potter."

"That's okay," I said automatically, "I guess I'll just go to have my robes done then. Thank you."

I followed the man up to the till where he continued to profusely apologise as he began piling books from the back of the store on to the till. I took out my coin purse to pay for them.

"No, no, none of that please. This has been very embarrassing for our store and I can never apologise for the inconvenience enough. Please, consider it an apology from us and let us cover the expense." He insisted.

"Oh, thank you but I don't really think I can accept that."

He shot me a look of such deep sadness. "Please Mr Potter, I insist. It's fine. On the house! I also promise to be ready and waiting with your second-year textbooks next year."

"Well, okay then, thank you." I looked over to Alicia and smiled at her in thanks as well and began to make my way out of the store with the books handed to me thus far.

"Wait, Harry!"

I paused and turned back around, the doorframe of the bookstore still in my hand as I was stepping over the threshold. She came rushing up to me with a thick tome in her hands. "This is a standard book they always have. It can tell you all you need to know about Hogwarts."

I smiled at her as she gently placed the book in my hands. I looked down to read the cover: Hogwarts, A History.

"Thank you, Alicia." I said. I really meant it, she had been very kind and helpful.

"Not a worry," she said with a smile. "Don't worry about the cost either, I convinced Mr Grumbles in there to add it to Flourish & Blotts' generosity towards you, especially considering that it is on the booklist and he would have sent it to you anyway."

I nodded. "Thanks anyway."

"Come find me on the Express, Harry, I'll introduce you to my friends. You shouldn't be alone on your first trip to Hogwarts, it's unseemly," she said with a big laugh.

"Thanks! I'm really excited about Hogwarts, I can't wait to meet everyone and learn magic! It's going to be a lot of fun!" The words came tumbling out.

"Yeah, yeah it will be. Hogwarts is wicked. You will have a great time. Just remember, whatever House you get Sorted in, you should always come by and say 'hi'." She emphasised.

#

"Hello! How may I help you?" A large lady with a kind smile approached me from the counter. "I'm Madam Malkin and you're in luck for being my first customer of the day!"

I smiled and shrugged. "I'm here for Hogwarts robes Madam, I'm going to be a First-Year student there this year."

The smile immediately evaporated from Madam Malkin's face and she stumbled where she stood. Her eyes flitted up and I worriedly pressed down my fringe. Hagrid did mention that I was famous. She blinked once. Twice.

"Of course," she said and her voice shook. "Right…right this way young man, why don't you get on the stool right there as I take some…measurements." She choked the last word out and she hid her face from me.

I'm sure my eyes bugged out at this point, which, as I know from Dudley's teasing, makes my eyes look twice as big on account of my glasses. "Is everything okay?"

As soon as I asked her the question, she big tears began to leak from her eyes but she continued to nod as if nothing was wrong. "Priscilla!" She called through her tears.

A young girl with bright pink hair came from the back of store. "Yes, I'm coming!" Her smile too disappeared upon seeing Madam Malkin crying.

"Can you please see to Mr Potter? I'm afraid I need to…need to compose myself." She rambled as she fled and the measuring tape hovering around me fell to the ground lifelessly.

Priscilla barely nodded before Madam Malkin was gone and she came up to the vacated place next to me in a moment, a strained smile on her lips.

"Sorry about that, Mr Potter." Priscilla's eyes too were misty. "Madam Malkin doesn't usually act like that, but with everything going on and of course seeing you, please don't take it personally."

I'm not entirely sure how else I was supposed to take it. "Did I say something wrong?" I asked worriedly.

Priscilla's eyes widened and she rapidly shook her head, "Oh no no no! You didn't do anything wrong. She lost her grandson, in the war. Seeing you, it probably brought up a lot of memories."

Ah. An uncomfortable burning filled my chest as I nodded slowly. Poor Madam Malkin. The rest of my fitting went on smoothly. Priscilla tried to make some conversion to distract me from what had happened, but I was too weirded out by the whole thing to be able to take advantage of it. She stopped her chatter when she saw I wasn't responding.

As my robes were being wrapped up, Priscilla walked me to the counter where Madam Malkin was waiting, looking much more composed. Her eyes were still big and red and swollen though.

"Here you are, Mr Potter," Madam Malkin said, as she handed me the package.

"Th-Thank you." I stuttered as we stared at each other and I struggled to understand the look she was giving me.

There was a sharp knocking sound and all three of us turned around to see Hagrid by the store's glass exhibit with a beautiful snowy owl in a cage in his free hand and a big smile on his face. I smiled back.

#

We were trudging back from Diagon Alley towards the Leaky Cauldron to head back to London. A light shower had broken out, but it was pleasant and cooling after the unusually hot summer day.

I was very confused. I know Hagrid said I was famous here, but something was definitely weird. Why did everybody keeping acting so weird? First at Flourish & Blotts, then at Madam Malkin's.

"I need to talk to you about something, Hagrid."

"Wha's on yer mind, Harry?" He asked turning to look at me as I took two paces to match each of his big steps.

"I didn't meet any other new First-Years while shopping today," I said.

Hagrid stopped for a second, but then kept on walking, his eyes firmly staring down at the ground. "I don't know wha' yeh mean."

"Hagrid, I spent the entire day here. I saw lots of adults in all the stores and even met a nice girl who is already at Hogwarts. But I didn't meet anybody my age, not a single one." I took a deep breath and continued to look at Hagrid's carefully blank face. "School is going to start on 1 September, you would think there would be more people doing their shopping."

"Musta been bad luck is all," he said with a frown.

"Hagrid, is there something you haven't told me? Something about the war?" I asked with only a slight hesitation.

I told yeh wha' happened. It's not summat I like to talk abou' Harry. They were dark times."

"No, I know what you mean, but…" I took a deep breath as his pace quickened. "Can you slow down for a second?"

He reluctantly slowed his pace, still refusing to make eye contact.

"I feel like you're not telling me something, Hagrid. All of these people, as soon as I meet them, they burst into tears or choke up or…or…say funny things or don't say anything at all. At all. It's weird! They all know something that I don't." I finally said, frustrated and looked up at Hagrid again.

He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Yer righ' Harry. There is summat more, and I'm sorry, bu' I find it difficul' to talk abou'." He bent to one knee and placed a heavy hand on my shoulder, looking at me with such intensity. "Yer the Boy Who Lived, Harry, tha's, tha's a great, great thing. Bu' there is a very dark past behind tha' title, a past tha' our world has still not forgotten. We try, we keep busy. But there are certain tragedies, there is no moving on."

"Hagrid, I'm scared." I was. What is this about? "Why can't you just tell me?"

I think he could see just how scared I was, he took a deep breath and took his hand off my shoulder and looked me straight in the eye. The sadness, the deep sadness and warmth and love in his eyes immediately dulled and his face looked…empty.

"Okay. Tha' dark wizard, the one whose name we do no' speak, he did many terrible things. Bu' the worst of all his terrible deeds is tha' he killed children. All magical children born over the last three years in Britain, up until the day you defeated him."

I could feel the colour draining from my face. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. Why everyone was upset when they saw me, why I was the only First-Year student at Diagon Alley and didn't meet any other Hogwarts students my own age.

"But-but why? WHY would someone do that?" I just don't understand.

Hagrid looked pained. "Nobody knows Harry, no' the one. No' even his followers who los' their own children to the Purge."

I could feel myself becoming numb, the pattering rain drops on my skin becoming non-existent. "How many died, Hagrid?"

With shinning eyes, he said, "Too many, far too many."

"But if all of them died." I gulped. "Why did I survive?"

"Yer the Boy Who Lived, Harry. Nobody knows why."

**AN: I don't like doing Author's Notes, but this seems necessary since it seems to come up in the comments a lot: Voldemort killed ALL MAGICAL CHILDREN in Britain born after 1 September 1978. So no muggle-borns and no wizard-raised kids.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Better Be

I sat alone in my compartment and watched the countryside fly by. My legs moved slightly in tandem with the gentle thrum of the Hogwarts Express as it rolled along, onwards, towards Hogwarts. I took a deep breath and let it out, my mind was still reeling with the possibilities. I placed my hands on my knees and sat there. A slight rustling to my left and my head immediately snapped to the side to see Hedwig chirping peacefully in her cage. I smiled slightly at her. With nimble fingers, I pried open the birdcage and helped her step out.

"It's just you and me, girl," I said, "It's going to be just us for a very long time, I think."

She nipped at my fingers as I stroked her head, flapped her wings and flew up to the luggage rack, only to settle down there with her eyes closed.

"Traitor," I said.

With nothing to do, I figured stretching my legs was worth the time. Alicia did say to come find her on the Express, it might be nice to speak to some of the other students going back to school.

I pulled my compartment door to the side and stepped out, sliding it closed behind me. The train hallway looked empty and I began walking up towards the conductor's compartment, figuring it would be more interesting than sitting alone.

As I slowly trudged north, my hands in my pockets, I not-very-carefully peaked into the other compartments, hoping to catch a glimpse of Alicia and maybe saying hello.

_Thump thump thump thump_

I turned around as I heard a loud sound of footsteps banging against the floor. In the distance I saw someone running at full tilt towards me. With just a second to spare, I pressed myself against the wall as I saw a figure blur past me, hands in front of her as she frantically dove forward.

I stared at her wide-eyed as she came to a quick stop and turned to look at me, "Sorry…sorry about that." She panted. "Twins…spider."

"Okay," I said not knowing what else to say when her words registered. "Were you running from twin spiders did you say?"

She waved her hand in the air in front of me as she placed the other against her side and rested against the wall opposite me, still trying to catch her breath. "Weasley twins, jumped me with a giant spider." More deep breaths, more panting. "Scared the living daylights out of me."

"Oh," I said, "Sorry to hear about that."

She waved away my apology as she finally calmed down enough to stand up straight. "I hate running, although I should probably be doing it more." She finally got around to looking at me more closely and for a second she froze. "You must be Harry Potter, the lone firstie."

I pressed my fringe down flat. "Uh yeah, how did you know?"

"You have too much baby fat to be an older student and I'm a third-year, no students in the year below. Process of elimination," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm Patricia Stimpson."

Struck dumb, I just nodded, "Hi Patricia."

A long silence stretched between us as we stared not knowing what to say next. She looked like she wanted to say something further, but held back.

"Well," I said. "I better get back to my compartment then."

"Why?" She asked. "It's not like you're sitting with anyone."

My awkward smile disappeared at that and I looked down. "No, I'm not. I just-"

"Goodness, I am so sorry!"

I looked up to face her and she looked absolutely horrified at what she had just said.

"That came out really, _really_ wrong, I am _so_ sorry!"

I shrugged and gave her a half-hearted smile. "It's fi-"

"You should come sit with me and my friends," she said. Before I could say another word, she reached out and grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind her. Her wide frame required me to maintain a bit of distance behind her. She was also a whole head taller than me, so there was really no escaping.

We marched past seven or eight compartments, before she finally stopped and let my hand go. I was standing next to her, shielded from the view of the people inside.

She pulled against the compartment door and entered without a backwards glance. "I'm back!" She announced with her hands in the air, "Please tell me those creeps are not planning on coming back."

I heard someone mumble something in response, but couldn't quite catch it. There was a bit of talking between them as I stood outside the compartment door, just waiting. What felt like a solid minute ticked by and I just stood there. I was just about to turn around and head back to my compartment when I heard her.

"Merlin's Beard!" She lumbered back to the compartment door. "Harry, why were you just standing there? Come on in!"

"Oh, I just thought-" I began to try to beg off when a boy came to stand next to Patricia.

"And who might this be?" He asked.

"Roger, this is Harry Potter. Harry, meet Roger Davies." Patricia introduced us with a wave of her hand.

He looked stunned for a moment and I saw his eyes flicker up to my forehead before he quickly looked away.

"Do come in, Harry," he said without looking at me. His smile diminished.

I tentatively walked into their compartment and saw an auburn-haired girl sitting comfortably on one side and another boy lounging with his feet up on the other side. Both were staring right at me.

"Have a seat, Harry," Patricia said, kicking the boy's feet off the compartment seat.

I sat down and waved at the others.

"That's Maggie Taylor," Patricia said pointing to the girl at the end, "and this waste of space calls itself Suraj Singh."

Both other students waved at me without saying a word. "Hi."

All five of us were now sat down and nobody said a word. I never knew how painfully loud silence could truly be until that very moment.

"So, do you know which House you want to be in?" Roger asked after too long a moment.

I shrugged, "Not really, they all sound great, I'm not too fussy about that. I guess Gryffindor would be nice, I was told my parents went there."

At the mention of my parents Maggie shot me a pitying look and I bristled, I really didn't like that look. At all.

"Pshaw, Gryffindor is for pansy boys who rush in without thinking twice and get themselves killed," Suraj said as he lounged back in his seat, hands behind his head.

"Shut up, Suraj!" Maggie hissed.

She was really beginning to annoy me, but I was glad for the opening. "Which House are you in then?" I asked him.

"Slytherin," he said with a wide smile. "House of the cunning, ambitious and oh-so-dashing."

"Also snakes that will stab you in your sleep." Patricia finished for him. He shot her an annoyed look and she raised an eyebrow in response. She turned back to me with a big smile. "The rest of us did the sensible thing and got sorted into Ravenclaw. House of the intelligent and the witty."

Suraj loudly coughed and his cough sounded suspiciously like 'loser'.

I felt myself starting to relax around them. "Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad."

"We are also ruddy brilliant at Quidditch!" Roger chimed in. "What team do you support, Harry? I'm with the Wimbourne Wasps. Any answer is acceptable as long as it's not the Chudley Cannons."

"Um, well..." I hesitated. "Sorry, what is Quidditch exactly? I've heard the basics, but I don't know much about it." Hagrid had tried to explain it to me, but I was very distracted at the time and it sounded very complicated.

As soon as he heard the words leave my mouth, Roger's jaw dropped down and Patricia broke out in giggles. "I don't think I've ever seen him look so gutted." She laughed as she popped a jellybean in her mouth. "I think you broke him, Harry."

Roger slid down from his seat, knees on the floor, he looked at me with extreme intensity. He crawled forward on his knees until he was sat on his haunches right in front of me, placing his heavy hands on my shoulder. "The dark days are over now, Harry. I will teach you, today, and you will never be the same."

I gulped at the look in his eyes.

"Calm down Davies, it looks like you're about ready to bugger the lad," Suraj said with a wide grin.

I immediately blushed in embarrassment.

"Stop being an arse, Suraj." Maggie finally spoke up. "For Merlin's sake Roger, leave the boy alone, he looks about ready to wet himself."

Roger broke into a smile and sat back up in his seat opposite me. "Sorry about that, Harry. Didn't mean to frighten you."

"That's okay," I said, laughing a little now that the moment had passed. "But seriously, what is Quidditch?"

#

"This way, Harry." I heard Hagrid's voice boom in the distance and he stood by a boat with a huge lantern in his hand, his free hand waving at me.

I smiled and walked up to him, "Hi Hagrid! It's good to see you again!"

"How was yer train ride over? Enjoyed the Express?" He asked.

I couldn't stop smiling, yes, it was amazing. "I met some amazing people, they let me share a compartment with them and they were telling me all about Hogwarts and Quidditch and the ghosts and everything! I can't wait to see it myself!"

Hagrid smiled down at me and waved me over. We got onto a rickety boat and he boomed out. "Forward!"

The boat sailed through the water and we drifted through the lake. A few minutes later, Hagrid turned to me and said, "Keep yer eyes out, yer about to see Hogwarts."

We turned a light corner and there it was. I stared in awe at the bright lights and spiralling towers, the warm glows and wide open fields. A large, beautiful castle, so impossibly grand and yet..."Home," I said.

Hagrid smiled at me as I stared transfixed at the castle, my smile could not falter. "Tha' it is. Welcome home, Harry."

#

Standing at the edge of the lake was a female figure with a pointed hat waving at Hagrid as we drew nearer. He waved back.

When we docked, Hagrid and I disembarked from the boat. "Evenin', Professor."

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take it from here." She said and turned her gaze onto me.

I gulped involuntarily. She seemed scary.

She cleared her throat. "My name is Professor McGonagall and I teach Transfiguration here at Hogwarts and am also Head of Gryffindor House. There are four Houses at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each House has its own virtues and qualities. While you are here, your House is like your family. Good work will gain you points and any rule breaking will cost you points. We will get you Sorted in your House first thing. When you enter the Great Hall, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head to Sort you. Your Head of House will speak to you tomorrow about the arrangements being put into place for your education, Mr Potter."

I nodded quickly, my smile fading. I couldn't even imagine how strange all of this must have felt to her.

"Please follow me."

I did. We walked through the front doors of the castle and turned left to face another pair of massive wooden doors. "This is the entrance to the Great Hall," she said as she pushed the doors open.

I followed behind her and my eyes immediately moved up to stare at the ceiling. It was filled with dark clouds and shinning, floating candles. So beautiful.

"Mr Potter?"

My eyes snapped forward and I saw that Professor McGonagall had walked down the corridor and was waiting for me at the end of the aisle. There were four tables laid out in parallel occupied by the students and a fifth table with the teachers at the front. Also, nobody was talking. I looked around and all the students had stopped talking and were staring right at me. I could feel myself getting light-headed with all the attention and looked straight down at the floor, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. I then began walking to the front of the Great Hall, my footsteps clanking on the marble floor as the pin drop silence persisted in the room, where Professor McGonagall was waiting with a…Sorting Hat?

I sat down on the stool and my last site was that of two hundred-odd students looking right at me as the Hat's brim fell over my eyes.

"Ah, I actually get to do my job this year."

I started upon hearing the voice.

"Fear not, Mr Potter, I am the Sorting Hat, speaking to you in your mind. I see you have kept an incredibly good humour about yourself through all of this."

"Well…Everyone is so sad and there's really nothing I can do about…well, all of it. But magic! It's so amazing! I guess that is what has me excited, even though everyone else seems really unhappy." I tried to explain.

"Not unhappy, Mr Potter, but I think, wistful, regretful, fearful of the future. Nothing quite brings a society to a standstill than the death of its children."

I didn't know what to say to that.

"Well, let's get to Sorting you then! Hmm…Gryffindor, maybe? You have been very courageous and brave through all of this. Not a bad mind either and a real curiosity for magic, but, not quite Ravenclaw material, no I don't think. I see also an ambition, to show the wizardring world that you deserve the title of Boy Who Lived, that your survival is to mean _something_ when none of the others survived. Yes, this thirst to prove yourself, this ambition would make you a good Slytherin indeed."

I listened to the Hat talk at me and really, I don't think I cared much which House I went to. My parents were in Gryffindor so that might be nice. "Mr Hat, really, I'm not too fussed about where I go. But, I am worried that I won't make any friends."

"Yes, I can see why. You are the only student in your year. It may become awfully lonely, indeed. Hmmm… If friendship and camaraderie is what you seek, then, yes, perhaps, better be…HUFFLEPUFF!"

I assume he said the last word out loud as Professor McGonagall removed the Hat from my head. As soon as I saw the light, I blinked a few times and heard the incredibly loud sound of people applauding. When my eyes adjusted, I saw them all standing up.

All the students, sat on every table in every House, were on their feet and enthusiastically clapping their hands and whooping in support. Professor McGonagall placed her hand on my shoulder and directed me towards the Hufflepuff table, where I was immediately beset with shouts of congratulations and requests for handshakes from all my new housemates. Then a boy with a green tie crossed over and also shook my hand. Then a girl with a blue tie. Everyone was clamouring to get a handshake in, or a hug. People were patting my back and wishing me well. I was being pushed one way and then another. Some were laughing, some were even tearing and smiling at the same time.

Sensing my distress, Professor McGonagall spoke out. "Alright now, let the boy breathe. Get back to your tables now, please."

I was shaking as I sat down at my table, the boy sat next to me smiled at me and held out his hand. "Cedric Diggory at your service. Welcome to Hufflepuff House!"

Before I could say anything in response, I hard glass clinking and silence descended on the Hall. The old man sat in the centre of the teachers' table stood up.

"That's our Headmaster Dumbledore, he's a legend." Cedric whispered in my ear.

"Welcome all, welcome to another year at Hogwarts," said the Headmaster. "I know we are all hungry and ready to tuck in, but this is another year where we must stop and reflect. We are all aware that Mr Potter is our only first-year student and it is a reminder of the grave loss that the wizardring world suffered during the last war. The powers of great evil are strong and devastating. Today, we should have welcomed many, many new students into our midst, to fill their minds with wonders and their tummies with the scrumptious feast to come. Alas, we were robbed of this tradition and we shall be robbed of it again next year as we were the year before. It fills my heart with profound sadness as I am sure that it does yours as well."

He paused for a moment as that thought settled in. "When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it-always. We, as a people, have endured great tyranny and unspeakable horror. Many of you may even have memories of those dark times. But that time is behind us. We must put it behind us and ever more charge forward, _remembering_, always remembering, that which is at stake. Let tonight be a powerful reminder of the things we have to lose when evil is afoot and I can only hope and pray that each of you strives to build a tomorrow that is better, brighter than what we failed to build for you today."

With a light smattering of applause, the Headmaster took his seat. From where I was sat, I could see the heaviness and exhaustion in the Headmaster's face and I think so could everyone else in the Hall. There was a bright flash and all the tables were filled with food. I looked around to see the most delicious spread, a true feast. Yet, after hearing those words, I didn't feel all that hungry anymore. Slowly looking around, none of my Housemates seemed to feel that hungry either.

"Try the chicken," said a voice to my left. Cedric was bravely trying to smile as he loaded my plate up. He looked around at the looks on his friends' faces. "Come on now, none of that, this feast is divine and we shall eat it. Enjoy it! If not for ourselves, do it in the memory of those who should have been here with us."

This made some of the others smile and slowly, tentatively, the students around me began to pile their plates. I looked at Cedric in awe and he turned and smiled at me. "The chicken really _is_ that good, I swear!"


	3. Chapter 3 - A Real Scamp

"Harry!" I stopped what I was doing and turned to the voice calling out to me. It was Cedric. I broke into a smile.

"Hi Cedric!"

"Are you headed down to the Great Hall?"

"Yeah," I said.

The Hufflepuff Common Room was difficult to describe. Imagine the physical embodiment of a hug, that's what it was like. People were amiable and there was a fire crackling at all times. Even though the Common Room was underground, we were a hop skip and jump away from the kitchens, a fact that the other students gleefully pointed out to me. There were long lines of bean bags everywhere where you often found students lounging around. There was also a separate space for those wishing for a quiet area to study or do their homework.

It was everything and more that I could have ever hoped for. And then there was Cedric. Tall, happy, friendly Cedric who was always willing to lend a hand or pull up his sleeves and offer help. I had only known him for a week now, but I couldn't imagine Hogwarts without Cedric in it.

He clapped me on my back and gave me his winning smile. "Want some company?"

I looked over and saw his friends waiting by the Common Room entrance for him. The fact that he picked me over them, it filled me with a kind of indescribable glee.

"Are you sure you don't want to go with your friends?" Please say no, please say no.

"Nah, I'll come with you today and you can tell me how you're coming along with that levitation charm. First charm is always the trickiest to get the hang of, you know?" He laughed and started walking to the portrait. I followed behind him.

#

"Now, Mr. Potter, please say it with me, '_Wingardium Levi-o-sa_'," said the dimunitive Professor Flitwick.

I repeated after him and followed the wand movements. I then pointed to the feather and tried again. And nothing happened.

I slumped in my seat.

"There, there, Mr. Potter, don't be so hard on yourself. Atlantis was not built in a day after all." Professor Flitwick gave a kind smile and he conjured an apple and levitated it towards me.

I grabbed it out of the air and took a bite. It was flavourful and juicy, like all the apples from my previous classes. I really liked Professor Flitwick, unlike the other teachers, he didn't insist we conduct our lessons in their big empty classrooms where it was only me and them. He kept me in his office, it was more intimate and less intimidating and I liked that just fine.

"I'll keep trying, Professor." That was a promise.

"Mmm," he said absently as a paper plane flew into his office. He opened it up and his happy expression began to diminish by just a fraction. "Ah, Mr. Potter, I'm afraid we are going to have to cut our lesson short.

I was disappointed to hear that and I think he could see that on my face. Learning Charms from him was my favourite part of the day.

He chuckled. "I will take that sad look as quite the compliment, your mother is certainly smiling right now, wherever she is," he said.

I smiled slightly at that thought. The other reason I loved Professor Flitwick is because he loved to tell me stories about my mother, who had been one of his best students. I also knew from him that my father was very good at Transfiguration, but Professor McGonagall was tightlipped when I asked her about it. She scared me, she did.

"The Headmaster has asked to see you, Mr. Potter, it appears to be urgent. His office is on the fifth floor behind the statue of the Gargoyle, the password is _'Orestes'_."

#

So here's a weird thing about Hogwarts that they covered in _Hogwarts: A History_, but you really have to see it for yourself to believe it. Everything moves. Not just the staircases, but the occasional door, classroom and entire hallway. There's a shortcut from the Great Hall to the Hufflepuff Common Room that Cedric showed me on my first day, expect it disappears every third Tuesday of the month. The entrance to the dungeons alternates from the east corridor to the west corridor every week. The majority of the third floor of the castle spontaneously disappears every once in a while and if you happen to be on it when it disappears, well, hopefully the professors will sort you out.

For someone reason, the Founders thought it would be _hilarious_ to torture their students and staff with a constantly moving castle. When I first complained about this to Professor Flitwick, he laughed and said it was rumoured to be an intended action by his beloved Rowena Ravenclaw. She liked to keep things moving and keep everyone on their toes. This way the castle kept changing and there was always something to discover - a new hidden passageway, a new room or corridor. Nobody who has come through Hogwarts, no matter how long they may have lived here, can ever claim to know all of it.

This is why when I was packed off to the Headmaster's Office, a place I had never been to before, I was mildly skeptical I would be able to find it at the first go. But I decided to try anyway because that is the Hufflepuff way.

Professor Flitwick's office is connected to the Charms classroom, which is on the second floor of the castle. I walked back to the grand corridor to take the main staircases up to the fifth floor. With a quick calculation, I got onto a staircase that moved right up. I was climbing up when the staircase began to move.

"Bollocks." I caught onto the railing and waited for the staircase to stop. It paused at an odd angle, where the top of the staircase pointed straight into a portrait and not a floor.

I walked the rest of the way up and stared at the portrait. It appeared to be of a thin woman in a gold dress with curly brown hair. Her skin was copperish and she was busy pouring tea for herself.

"Excuse me," I said. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know when this staircase might move again."

The Gold Lady paused what she was doing and looked to me with utter boredom. "'Tis not a science. Anywhere between an hour to an age."

Well, that was unhelpful. I sat down on the top step of the staircase and began to calculate the trajectory if I tried to jump onto the nearest staircase. I peered over the railing, it was a long jump. There had to be a way out of this, there usually was, Hogwarts was not built to block you, but to make you think.

"Excuse me, miss," I said to the Gold Lady. "Any chance that you might know of a different route?"

The Gold Lady smiled. "You are astute. Yes, however, I will reveal the path whence you can do me a favour."

I nodded, this I could work with. "How can I help?"

"I hate this patch of wall. Move me to a busier corridor." She demanded.

I didn't know if I could do that, but hey, why not give it a try? "I am on my way to speak to the Headmaster, I can ask him to move you."

"Hah! That old worm, let it be, I thought you one with more skill than that." She proceeded to ignore me.

No matter what I did, I could not get her attention back. I sighed in frustration and slammed my hands on her portrait. Accidentally, she moved to face me again just as I was about to slam my hands and my hands pressed right into the picture of her bosom. She _eeped_ and covered her chest. I was pretty sure I was red in the face when the portrait swung inwards and revealed a hidden passageway behind her.

"Sorry!" I called back to her as I hastily made my way through.

The passage continued on for a while, it steeped upwards, requiring me to climb carefully and slowly up a slope, until after a few minutes it evened out. Up ahead, there was a blank patch of wall, which I assumed was the way out.

"Look what we have here?"

I stumbled and nearly fell over at the voice from nowhere. I turned to the left to see that there was a hollowed out cave area, just big enough to allow someone to lie down. A redheaded boy was currently lying on a mattress , his head plopped up by his hand, eyeing me with curiosity.

"Well knock me down with a feather, it's Harry Potter - what brings you to my hidey hole?" He asked.

"Hi, sorry, I got stuck in the grand corridor and a staircase I took to cut to the fifth floor moved to a portrait of a Gold Lady and-"

"You met the Gold Lady? The staircase does not go to her often, you know? Only the brave get that route. But seeing you made it here, you must be a really scamp." He chortled.

I could feel my cheeks heating up. "I don't know what you mean."

"There's only one way to open her up." He winked. "Never thought I'd see the day where a firstie would have the desire to press her-"

"It was an accident!" I blurted out. "You have to believe me, I had no idea. I was just frustrated and-"

He burst out laughing at this point. "Not to worry, little Harry, it will be our little secret."

"...Thanks," I said.

He got up from his cot on the floor and walked towards me. He stuck out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Fred Weasley, this is my afternoon naptime spot on most Fridays, or at least, whenever this hidey hole chooses to appear."

I shook his hand, feeling only slightly relieved.

"Fred, you seem to know your way around, could you please tell me how to get to the Headmaster's Office, it's on the fifth floor, behind the statue of the Gargoyle. But I am horribly lost and he is expecting me."

He laughed some more. "Called to see the Headmaster before the end of your first week?" He wiped a fake tear from his eye. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Harry."

In short order, Fred approached the patch of wall and with some oddly patterned taps and presses, caused the wall to open. I followed him out and a few minutes later, he dropped me off at the entrance to the Headmaster's office.

"Thanks Fred, I owe you one," I said.

"Not a bother, Harry. Come join me and my brother at the Gryffindor table for a meal sometime."

#

I had to remind myself not to fidget. The Headmaster's office seemed big, but it was cluttered with so much stuff, I didn't even know where to look. For his part, the tall old wizard sat opposite me, behind his desk and simply stared. It was weird. So I distracted myself by focusing on not fidgeting. A clicking whirring sound suddenly rose up from my left and I nearly jumped in my chair. The train whistle like sound felt loud and harsh in the pin drop silence of the Headmaster's office.

The Headmaster noticed my reaction but he didn't respond.

I pointed to his machine and said, "It's loud, is all."

"It is," he said.

A few more moments passed in silence with my looking everywhere but at the Headmaster and him looking directly at me.

"So...um...I understand you wanted to see me about something, sir?"

"Yes." He shifted in his seat and pulled out a parchment. He placed it in front of me.

I picked it up and unfurled it. There were a bunch of latin words on it and I couldn't make heads or tails of it. "Er...thank you, sir," I said.

"It is a summons, Mr. Potter. The Hogwarts Board of Governors has asked for you to appear before their next committee gathering." Thankfully, he explained what it was about.

"I see...um...why, sir?" Was I in trouble? I didn't remember doing anything wrong.

"You're a very important young man, Mr. Potter. You mean a great deal to a lot of people. You are also in a unique position and your education is of utmost importance to the future of magical Britain."

Okay... "That's very nice of them, sir."

He didn't say anything further on the topic and moved on gracelessly. "I trust your Aunt and Uncle have briefed you on the circumstances surrounding your parents' deaths and the state of Magical Britain thereafter?"

I blinked. "Um, no..."

"No?" He appeared nonplussed, like I had just said something that did not fit into his worldview.

"I mean Hagrid told me about Voldemort and what he did and I know he killed a lot of people, children even. There was a Purge, so, I know the basics." I hastily explained myself. With every response, I felt more and more like I was failing a very important exam.

"This will not do, Mr. Potter," he said, anger clearly marring his features. "I knew sending you there was a terrible idea, but I was overruled by the Wizengamot..." He took a long, calming breath and the anger seemed to melt away from his face.

I hadn't realised it, but I had backed as far into my cushy chair as I could as he got wound up. Dumbledore was scary.

"On your tenth birthday, the Chief Witch of the Wizengamot, that is to say, one of the senior leaders of our government, Madam Longbottom, made a special visit to your relatives to explain to them the unique circumstances under which you were to attend Hogwarts. I take from your responses that this information was not conveyed to you?" His expression seemed calm enough, but I could sense the underlying rage within him and it terrified me.

"No sir, I mean, yes sir, I did not know about it." As long as his rage was not directed at me, I think I would be okay.

He sighed and placed his head in his hands. He stayed there for some time and eventually came up to look at me. He looked tired, deeply, truly, tired right in his bones. At that moment, he could have told me that he was over a thousand years old and I would have believed him because he looked it.

"This is what I get for being forced to trust our government for handling things like this. Had it been up to me, you would have never stepped foot in Surrey. But this was not my decision. Very well, Mr. Potter, this is going to be a very difficult day for you, I suggest you pay close attention." He rose from his seat and with a flick of his wand, a nearby cabinet opened up and a silver tray on a table came reeling out.

I stared on in wonder.

#

I ran. I ran as far as my legs could carry me. I ran and ran and ran on a cold September evening in Scotland. I ran through the castle doors and out into the courtyard. Sweat was pouring down my face and it mingled with my tears as I continued to run as far away from the castle as I could.

I couldn't do this. I didn't know how to do this. A prophecy, dark lord, child massacres. It was too much, too much, too much! A bright bird trilled in the sky above me and seemed to follow my path. I was panting now, my breaths came in laboured.

I ran towards Hagrid's Hut and banged on his door. "Hagrid! Hagrid, it's me! Hagrid, please open the door!"

A lumbering sound emanated from within and within a few short moments, the large shaggy form of the groundskeeper appeared at the door.

"'Lo Harry, are yeh alright?"

"I want to go back to Privet Drive. I don't want to be at Hogwarts anymore. I'm just a kid, Hagrid. I can't...I can't save everyone, I don't know what to do." The running, the laboured breathing, the panting, the sheer panic, it was all catching up to me and without me even realising it, tears began to stream down my face. "I don't want any of this, Hagrid. I just want to be Harry, Just Harry, nothing else.

Hagrid bent low on one knee, we were now at eye level. He placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Harry."

I pushed his hand off of me and backed away. My foot slipped on the stairs up to his hut and I tumbled down and hit the ground hard.

"Harry-" He made to walk towards me.

I held my hand out and stopped him. "No."

I got up to my feet and began to run, away from him, away from Hogwarts, away from it all.

#

I didn't know how long I had been sat in the Forbidden Forest. I didn't go too deep into the forest, I'm not stupid and the name does tell you that it's not an inviting place. But I didn't really know where else to go or what to do. Once the sun had set and the chill set in, I found a tree hollow and curled myself inside it.

Nobody came looking for me and I was grateful for the alone time. There was a soft ticking noise right above me and I looked up in fear. A tiny green creature, like a paper man drawn with lines, came rolling down the tree trunk's inside and settled onto my shoulder. It was as big as my hand and seemed to enjoy pressing itself against me.

Despite my mood, I couldn't help but giggle. "Stop that," I said. The way it was touching me was ticklish.

"I see you have made a new friend."

I jumped and hit my head on the ceiling on my tree hollow. I yelped in pain and my hand instinctively began to rub the spot on my head as I looked out fearfully into the darkened forest.

"Come on out now, Mr. Potter."

I gulped and slowly made my way out of the hollow. I looked around and saw a figure laid down on the forest floor, head pointed to the night sky.

"Professor Dumbledore," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I confess I waited for you to tire and come back to the castle, but it seems you are not going to make it easy." He raised his hand without breaking his gaze on the night sky and indicated that I should sit down next to him.

I hesitantly did so.

"I must apologise, Mr. Potter, I focus so much on events outside of the school, particularly when it comes to you, that I forget that you too are a child, an innocent child who is new to this world," he said.

I felt like I could hear genuine regret in his voice and for some reason, that made me feel guilty. "It's okay, Professor."

"No, it is not. But little about our world is okay or fair or just. All of that changed a twelve years ago." His expression was steady but his voice was wistful. "We all have a part to play, Mr. Potter. By prophecy, yours appears to be one of hero, of saviour."

"I...I don't know if I can be what everyone needs me to be," I said. I could feel pinpricks of tears in my eyes and I did everyting I could to hold them back.

"It matters not that you are afriad. Fear is not a bad thing. Fear reminds us that we are alive." Dumbledore gently placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. "Acting despite fear, not in the absence of it, is true courage."

"What if I fail, when he comes back?" I asked the one question plaguing me.

"Then that will be dealt with then, there is no point drowning yourself in sorrow now." He finally looked at me and gave me a warm, if small, smile. "I spent a long time, Mr. Potter, a long time debating whether we should tell you everything at such a young age. I understand the value of a childhood and boyhood freedoms to be young and wild and unencumbered. The Chief Witch and I have had many an argument about that. I think in a different world, I would have tried to withhold the truth from you for as long as possible, but in this world, we have seen too much loss, too much tragedy."

I shook in the cold night's air and also in sadness. "I don't want any of this. I just want to learn magic and make friends and feel...I don't know."

"It is not fair. Not at all. I agree that it is not. You, my boy, represent hope for our people because you survived where thousands did not. Placing that burden on shoulders so young and inexperienced is unfair, but some have these burdens thrust upon them. I will do everything in my power to prepare you for what is to come, I give you my word on that." He placed his hand on my head and looked at me over his halfmoon spectacles with such intensity that the wind was knocked out of me.

"I'll...I'll try," I said, but even I knew that that was filled with uncertainty.

He sighed and looked away once again. "That is all we can hope for, Mr. Potter."


	4. Chapter 4 - The Purge

I don't know when I got into my bed. The last thing I remember was feeling a might chilly in the Forbidden Forest with the Headmaster and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in my empty dormitory in the Hufflepuff Burrow. I rose from my bed and threw away the covers. It was strange to wake up alone in a massive room like this every morning after growing up in a cupboard. The space made me uncomfortable.

Then it all came crashing back. The truth, those words, the _prophecy_.

_...Either must die at the hand of the other..._

I didn't know how to handle it, how to manage those expectations. All of these people looked upon me like I was something special, something greater, some kind of saviour, and turns out I was. But how was I going to achieve this? I didn't know.

I looked at my watch and saw it was still early, very early. I crawled out of my bed with every ounce of courage I had knowing that all I wanted was to curl up and go to sleep and never wake up.

#

I turned my cereal around in a bowl slowly, over and over again. How would I even begin? Where would I even begin?

There were a few other early risers in the Great Hall. More than a week in the new school term had passed, so the number of stares and whispers I received had died down a little bit. I was glad for it. I turned to look up at the Head Table and saw the Headmaster deep in discussion with Professor Flitwick. Neither paid any attention to me, but I felt like they were talking about me. Looking around, I felt like everyone was talking about me. Did they think I was a fraud? I did.

"Hey there, Harry." A sunny morning call from Cedric as he sidled up next to me.

I tried to smile at the older boy, but the effort was draining. He definitely noticed my mood.

"Are you alright?"

I shrugged. "A little bit homesick is all."

Cedric nodded at me, his smile diminished. He looked disappointed and a surge of shame filled me. Cedric had been nothing but nice and encouraging from the moment he met me. I hated disappointing him, but I didn't know how to help it.

"Cedric, can I...can I ask you something?"

"Sure mate," he said, as he helped himself to some bread.

"How did it happen? The Purge, I mean?" I ventured.

He froze. "We don't talk about it, Harry. It's not...Merlin, we just don't talk about it okay?" He said. He sounded a little angry.

I leaned back, surprised by the first sign of anything but pleasantness from the every-sunny Hufflepuff. I nodded quickly and scarpered before he got any angrier at me.

#

Potions with Professor Snape was my oddest class. There was pin drop silence in his dungeon. I nervously pulled my robe sleeves down as I felt some of the draftiness of the chamber he taught in. My first class with him was bizarre. Usually I got at least some reaction from a teacher, but he simply walked in, planted himself at his desk and pointed to the instructions on the blackboard behind him. I read and followed. Not a word spoken. He didn't check my work or offer any advice, only a nod at the end of the class when I presented my work to him.

Imagine my surprise when he finally said something to me.

"Be careful with the flame, read the instructions again," he said.

I was so startled, I nearly dropped my ladle into the cauldron. I looked up at him with wide eyes and nodded frantically. I was warned that Professor Snape did not suffer fools and even Cedric had told me not to get on his bad side - advice I had every intention of following.

"Yes, Professor."

Silence resumed. I thought his interruption was a one-off event, only for lightning to strike twice.

"The Headmaster informed me that you received some news recently that may have been upsetting." He spoke in a slow, measured manner, like every word was carefully calculated.

I nodded in response. I didn't know if this was something I wanted to talk about with anyone, let alone the fearsome Potions Master. The Headmaster had warned me not to discuss the words of the prophecy with anyone, so I was surprised that Snape was in the know.

"Speak, Mr. Potter. Cease bumbling your head like a loon." He snapped.

"Er...yes, sir. I didn't know...if, well, if all the teachers knew." I managed to get that out and I hoped he wasn't offended by it.

"Prudent observation," he said softly, yet his voice echoed with authority in the stone room. "A few Professors are aware of your unique circumstances, myself and Professor McGonagall to be specific. I bring it up because you appear to be distracted today."

"Yes, sir," I said.

"I will not tolerate incompetence in my classroom, Mr. Potter. Whatever bothers you, see that you leave it at the door before you walk in." His words were like a slap.

I felt like the rebuke was the end of our conversation and I turned back to my cauldron, determined to finish this potion and leave before I did something else he disapproved of. As I sliced my toad head, I felt an anger boil up inside me. Yesterday, when I learnt of it all, I was filled with panic, but today, it was more anger.

Why was he so mean to me? I didn't ask for this and...and it shouldn't be a crime to feel distracted by the fate of a society put on your shoulders. I cut into the toad's eyes with a little more force than needed and one eye went flying off my chopping block and right to his desk. It rolled a little and came to rest in front of him.

I stared open-mouthed, horrified, afraid, but still mad.

For his part, he looked at the offending eye staring back at him without a single shift in his expression. He looked at me with the same indifference.

"It seems you are determined to melt your potion today." He rose from behind his desk and walked up to me.

I involuntarily stepped back as his large, black-clad figure approached my desk. With a swish of his wand, the contents of my potion disappeared.

"Leave. Come back more focused."

I nodded quickly, grabbed my bag and left. I could feel his beady black eyes boring into my back as I made myself scarce.

#

The Hogwarts Library was massive, impressive and overwhelming all at once, much like the rest of Hogwarts. Cedric told me that it was manned by the ever-formidable Librarian, Madam Pince. As long as I didn't talk too loudly or dog-ear pages, I would be on her good side. I roamed through the endless aisles of bookshelves in wonder and ran my hand along the spines of them.

As I turned a corner, I saw a familiar face. "Hi Fred," I said, trying my best to make voice carry while still whispering.

The redhead turned with his same mischevious grin, which instantly fell off his face when he caught sight of me. I looked on confused as he continued to gape at me like I was the devil incarnate. After a moment's pause, he straightened up and walked away without a backwards glance.

My heart sank a little bit and I could feel the beginnings of tears prickling my eyes, but I took a deep breath and held them at bay. I soldiered on and found a quiet spot to do my Charms homework, wondering what I had done to offend the Gryffindor boy.

#

I was playing with my food when I felt someone plop down next to me. I turned over and was surprised to see Fred there, smiling like he hadn't given me the coldest of cold shoulders not a few hours ago.

"You look like a niffler stole your galleon. Why the long face?" He asked in his chipper voice.

I shrugged. "Uh...nothing really." Was something wrong with him?

I think he noticed the confusion on my face. "What? Kneazle got your tongue?"

I shook my head in the negative rapidly, not wanting to offend the boy again. "I saw you in the Library earlier, but when I said hi, you were...weird."

Fred looked confused by this. "Mate, I skived off Herbology all afternoon and took a nap in my secret room. You definitely didn't see me in the Library." Then his eyes widened. "Ah." He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around. "I think you might have seen that dashing bloke."

I turned to where he pointed and sure enough, there was a copy of Fred sitting at the Gryffindor table, chatting amiably with a dark-skinned girl. Whatever he said was making her laugh heartily. Fred turned me back around to face my table again and I looked to him.

"Fly might get in if you leave your mouth open for that long, mate."

I snapped my mouth shut. "There's two of you."

He chuckled. "It's not magic, he's my twin is all. That's George."

_Oh_! Well, of course that makes perfect sense. There were twin girls in my class at primary school too. I grinned in embarassment at Fred. "Sorry about that, I thought it was you." Another thought then occurred to me. "Does your brother not like me for some reason?"

Fred's grin was like a fixture on his face and seeing it disappear was a worrying sight. His face didn't look quite right if he wasn't grinning. "It's not that he has anything against you specifically, mate." Fred shifted uncomfortably in his seat and squirmed as he tried to find the words. He cleared his throat. "I had a brother, a younger brother. He'd have been about your age now, in his First Year at Hogwarts too. We have a pond in our back garden at home. George had taken him out when...when The Purge came. He was in George's arms when it happened."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I nodded and awkwardly patted Fred's arm.

Fred sniffled lightly and looked away. We sat in silence for a few moments until Fred could look at me again. "Wasn't just him, we had a younger sister too, she was just a baby. The only girl in our family. The first Weasley girl in seven generations - it was a very big deal when she was born. She was with Mum when...well, you know."

I didn't know. But I think it was clear I needed to find out.

But now was not the time to ask. And Fred was not the person to tell.

"Thanks, Fred. And I'm sorry."

#

I thought long and hard about what to do. After dinner, I fled to the Library and looked into history books. Hogwarts didn't have any old newspapers in stock, so I figured the books were my best bet. I didn't find anythign useful other than vague comments in _Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_. _Modern Magical History_ spent an entire chapter discussing the devastation of The Purge, but it didn't really say what actually happened. It seemed to be a thing everybody simply _knew_.

It was my first weekend at Hogwarts and I made my way to my favourite Professor's office. I knocked on his door, hoping that he would be in. I heard shuffling at the other end and the door opened to reveal Professor Flitwick in a fetching blue cardigan with a large goblet in his hands.

"Good heavens, Mr. Potter," he said with a grin. "I do quite enjoy our lessons, but I must insist you take a break from Charms over the weekend."

I rubbed the back of my head and looked to the floor. "I'm sorry to bother you, Professor, but it couldn't wait. Do you have a few minutes?"

The dimunitive professor backed away from the entrance to his office and flashed his arm forward, allowing me entry. I shuffled in.

#

Professor Flitwick looked grave and the colour had drained from his face. Then he began to look angry.

"It is unacceptable that you have been kept in the dark about something so essential and foundational to our society today." He spat out.

By this point, I knew that any mention of The Purge evoked strong reactions from the people I spoke to, but seeing my favourite teacher appear so angry, it was certainly a shock.

"I'm sorry," I said.

He took a long breath. "It's not your fault, Mr. Potter. In fact, take a point to Hufflepuff for showing such fortitude to approach me with this question. It was probably not easy. With the muggleborn students, we have an orientation where they are given a history about the war and especially The Purge. This is so they understand the society they are entering and the hope they represent."

He took a long sip of his tea and set it down on his table. "While I appreciated the novelty of sending Hagrid to fetch you, it was too much to hope that the Headmaster would ensure you were better prepared for the world you were entering, especially considering your special status in it."

He leaned back his head and looked to the ceiling of his office, then looked back at me. "Very well then. Of what is known, it is speculated that He Who Must Not Be Named was paranoid, paranoid beyond belief. He was convinced that the children of Britain would rise to attack him. He wanted them subjugated, controlled. But other than being a madman, he was also a genius."

"I do not know the specifics, nobody does really. The Purge could have been a spell, a curse, a ritual, something Otherworldly for all we know. But it was certainly a magic most foul. There are Dark Arts, which is magic so evil, so very terrible, that only the blackest and most twisted of souls would dare even to think it, let alone use it. The Purge is such magic."

Professor Flitwick cupped his hands on his knees and steeled himself. "On Halloween in 1981, a wave of energy, that is the best description that the brightest of scholars have been able to come up with, a wave of energy emanated from within the Heart of London and spread outward. Within the ensuing thirty-five minutes, every magical child, whether raised by wizards or muggles, born after 1st September 1978...died. There are accounts of children..." He stopped to take a deep, shuddering breath. "...children withered and turned to dust and disappeared."

I stared on. Numb. "But...why?"

Professor Flitwick got off his seat and came to stand in front of me. He put his hand on my shoulder. "I don't know."

"But how did he do it?" I rambled on, feeling a pressure building in my chest.

He sighed and rubbed my back. "I don't know."

I was shaking. "Why...why not me?"

He raised his hand and a handkerchief appeared in it, he handed it to me. I didn't even realise when hot angry tears came spilling out of my eyes.

"I don't know," he said. "You Know Who never found you. He enacted a curse and killed every child in one fell swoop. But you survived. Nobody knows how or why, all we know, all we were told and all that we have found out, was that your parents sacrificed themselves to keep you alive and in the wreckage, all that was left was you and that scar on your forehead."

I slapped my hand on my forehead and traced the familiar outline. I had always had this scar, from as far back as I could remember. I never thought twice of it unless Aunt Petunia said something nasty about it or, more recently, if someone pointed at it. But for the first time, I felt branded.

"What happened to Voldemort?" I asked.

Professor Flitwick flinched at the name and took a step back from me. "He vanished, turned to dust, much like his victims."

Professor Flitwick stood in front of me. Standing at his full height while I sat hunched over, we were at the same level. He placed each of his hands on my shoulders and looked me dead in the eye.

"Whether you like it or not, whether you can bear it or not, this is your reality. You represent hope in the darkest hour our people have ever seen. You are the Boy Who Lived, Harry. You Know Who is gone, undone by his own madness. All you must do to live up to your title is simply this: live. Breathe. Be joyful and merry and spread hope. Help a hurting people heal. Can you try to do that?"

I nodded. I lied.


	5. Chapter 5 - Am I In Trouble, Professor?

I studied.

Once the initial shock had worn off, I had settled into the reality of my situation.

"Carefully, Mr. Potter, there should be a flourish at the end for just the right result," Professor Flitwick said.

Voldemort disintegrated, but he was still out there, somewhere, and he was going to come back one day, who knows when?

So I studied.

"A little too much water, but the potting was done right," said Professor Sprout.

I took every one of my subject books and read them front-to-back, I needed to know it all if I was going to have any chance of catching up to him.

"The feathers lack some detail, but I see improvement." Professor McGonagall nodded.

I worked and ate and slept and studied. Again and again and again.

"Acceptable." Professor Snape sniffed.

September passed without any further surprises and we drew closer to winter.

I woke up on Halloween morning in my empty dormitory and threw the covers off of me. I rubbed the crust from my eyes and felt my broken glasses press into my nose.

"Ugh," I said. I fell asleep reading, again.

After a quick _reparo_, I started my day.

#

I bowed my head in a moment of silence with the rest of the student body at breakfast. It was mandatory for all to attend. No words were spoken, no speeches or remembrances, just quiet and stillness and a palpable energy that I could not name.

In the wizardring world, there was no celebration on Halloween, we called it Remembrance Day - to remember the Purged.

I snuck a look up and turned my head up and down the Hufflepuff Table. All the older students maintained a respectful silence. I noticed two pairs of blue eyes look at me and my eyes widened. Cedric gave me a cheeky wink and I smiled and returned to my respectful silence.

#

"Come on now," she said as she dragged me by the arm.

I tried to resist, but Alicia was surprisingly strong. "I really do need to study."

"All you do is stay locked up in the Library and read and read and read. Honestly, you should have been in Ravenclaw, but I guess the work ethic would say otherwise." Alicia shook her head. "Regardless, we are going to the Pitch and getting you on a broom, you need some life in you Potter. You're paler now than you were when I first met you."

The Gryffindor girl refused to relent and in a way, I was glad, if a little annoyed, that she intervened.

#

"You're not too shabby, Potter," Alicia said.

I had a big grin splitting my face. I had had a few flying lessons with Madam Hooch, but nothing beat taking to the air without the watchful gaze of the flying instructor bearing down on me.

"Thanks."

"I mean it," she said. "If you shaped up a bit, you would be a terror on the pitch. You should speak to Cedric about that. He's the new Hufflepuff Seeker, I'm sure he'd be up to training you some more."

We walked through the Entrance Hall chatting amiably and for a moment, just a moment, I forgot that today was Remembrance Day, and it felt freeing.

#

"Mr. Potter," said a voice.

I groaned and turned over in bed.

"Mr. Potter, Harry, please wake up."

I slowly sat up in bed to see a _lumos_ light hanging over my four-poster bed and my Head of House looking right at me. I blinked once. Twice. A little bit of sense came flooding to me and my mouth and brain finally started to work.

"Is something wrong, Professor?" I asked.

"Something terrible has happened, Mr. Potter, you must come with me to the Headmaster's office immediately.

My heart sank.

#

All the way to Professor Dumbledore's office, my mind raced with possibilities. As we walked along the cold Hogwarts corridors in the dead of night, I felt the gaze of every portrait and all of a sudden, it felt like my first day all over again. The people in the portraits were running around and whispering to each other urgently. Wherever I passed, they stopped to stare.

I stared back.

"Am I in trouble, Professor?"

She didn't answer. That worried me more.

"Professor," I said.

Still no response. I stopped and stood in my position and refused to move. Professor Sprout walked a few more steps and then noticed that I hadn't moved. I was glad she stopped as the light source continued onwards with her. With every one of her steps, the space around me grew darker and I was not afriad to admit that in the dead of night, this darkness felt especially scary.

She sighed. "Don't dally, boy, the Headmaster will tell you what you need to know. There has been an attack." She flicked her wand and I went careening forward and was planted in front of her. "You need to be secured."

I started to walk in step with her as my anxiety intensified. "What kind of attack? Who was attacked?" With every question, I could feel sweat collecting on my forehead.

"A student was found just outside Gryffindor Tower, I do not know more at this time," she said.

#

"Petrified?" I asked.

The aged Headmaster nodded. "Alicia Spinnet was found outside her dormitory, petrified. She is currently in Madam Pomfrey's excellent care."

My breathing grew erratic. "But I was just with her, we flew together all afternoon and evening. I don't understand how this could have happened."

"The matter is being investigated. But it cannot be ignored that this was likely to be a direct message to you, Mr. Potter." Professor Dumbledore waved his wand and an image appeared before me.

Alicia's oridnairly relaxed face was frozen in an expression of terror. She had her wand up and her body was locked in a defiant posture. The sweat from our earlier flying still clung to her skin, frozen in animation.

"Do you have any idea of how this might have happened, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked me this gently, slowly, but my mind was blank.

I sagged into the armchair I had occupied when I walked in.

Professor Sprout sat next to me, impassive. "Mr. Potter, the Headmaster asked you something," she said.

Her clipped tone snapped me awake. I shook my head no. "I...I didn't see anything. We talked all the way back from the pitch and then I went down to the Burrow and she went to her dorm. The last I saw her, she waved at me...and..."

The Headmaster pressed his chin on his hands as he looked at me over his half moon spectacles. His keen regard unnerved me a little bit, but I didn't have the energy to feel uncomfortable.

"Nevertheless, you are now confined to the Burrow after classes every day. If you are to go anywhere, you will be accompanied by a Prefect or Professor, at all times. Until this matter is resolved, we cannot take lightly any risk to your person." He made a note on the parchment in front of him.

The parchment copied itself onto mutiple parchments and they magically sealed themselved into planes and flew out of the Headmaster's office window.

"Will Alicia be okay?"

"In time." He assured me.

#

I felt like a prisoner. I was escorted from the Burrow every morning by a Prefect to the Great Hall and from the Great Hall to my first class. After every class, a Professor walked me to my next classroom.

I was isolated before, but the students around me usually stopped to say hello or offer a smile. Now, I got stared at and pointed at, nobody said a word as I walked under the watchful guard of an authority figure.

All the while, I worried about Alicia. She was targeted because of me. I couldn't let that happen to anybody else.

#

_"Kill, rip, tear..."_

I bolted straight as I walked alongside a surly Professor Snape, who looked like he would prefer to be eaten alive by a venomous tentacula than walk me to Herbology.

"Did you hear that, Professor?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "The constant nattering of foolish children, it would be hard to avoid that here."

_"Feed, tear, hungry..."_

"No, I mean, the voice, there's a voice talking..."

"I hear nothing, Mr. Potter."

I was about to say something more, but stopped short at the _look_ he gave me. I knew that look. It was what every teacher at my old school usually gave me when they laid eyes on me. The Dursleys' lies spread far and wide and they let everyone believe I was touched in the head. I closed my fists and looked away from the incredulous stare of my least favourite teacher.

"I'm sure it was nothing, Professor."

We continued on. But I knew better. I kept my ears peeled. I had to find a way to find this voice.

#

Creeping around the castle under wandlight in the dead of night was not the brightest of moves when I was supposed to be securely tucked away in bed. I knew that. But this was the only way I had to figure out what was happening.

I moved as swiftly as I could through the corridors, keeping my _lumos_ at the lowest intensity - just enough to see a few paces ahead, but not enough to be seen from a distance, or so I hoped.

_"Hungry...so hungry...kill..."_

A faint voice in the distance. It was unmistakably loud in the silent hallways. I closed my eyes and honed in on the sound. I wanted to find it, I needed to find it.

I weaved through corridors as I followed the sound of the voice. It seemed to be moving, growing louder and softer. For a moment I felt maddeningly close to it and then the next moment, it was gone again, disappearing into the night like the whisper of a secret.

A slight whisper, a quick hiss, something to the left. I pressed my hand to the wall next to me. I looked around cautiously. I knew this hallway and this patch of wall. The Defence classroom was usually in this spot the third week of every month.

A creepy, crawling, hairy sensation covered my hand. I yelped and pulled my hand back from the wall as if burnt. I moved my wand down to focus the wandlight on the floor. There was a trail of spiders, marching in unison away from the wall and towards the nearby window, all leaving the castle, solemn and disciplined, like soldiers headed to war.

"Did you hear that, dearie?" A voice. A cat meowing soon after.

Filch!

I bolted to the other side of the corridor and took a turn. A slap on a nearby suit of armour that I had discovered a week prior and a concealed alcove opened in the wall. I threw myself in and the wall closed around me.

It was a small closet, a hidden closet with nothing within except an ageing broom and well rusted bucket. I heard footsteps tip-tapping outside. Filch was outside. I held my breath, convinced that the caretaker could hear me breathe. I pressed myself to the back of the forgotten broom closet. Having grown up in a cupboard, small spaces brought me a strange comfort. As tiny as my cupboard was, it was my refuge in Privet Drive, a place where the Dursleys would leave me be. A confined space held memories of belonging and safety. I was safe here, Filch would not find me in here.

Footsteps faded, he was on his way away. I finally breathed out, it was a messily loud exhale and I panicked that Filch picked up on it.

I stayed put. I closed my eyes and focused my ears, where was the voice now? Whom did it belong to? Why was I the only one who could hear it?

#

It was a miracle that I got back to the Burrow unscathed. I muttered the password and the entrance opened. I threw myself in and felt safe for the first time all night long.

"Fancied a night time stroll, Mister?"

I jumped out of my skin and my eyes bugged out in terror. Against the backdrop of the last embers in the common room fire, Cedric Diggory sat covered in blankets. His eyes looked droopy, he had been waiting a while.

"Do I want to know what you've been up to?" He asked in that light tone with that same kind smile that he used when asking me about my day or if I wanted help with my homework.

"Cedric...I..."

And the words came tumbling out. Slowly at first, then all at once. The fear, the sadness, the isolation, the difficulty, Alicia...the voice. I said it all to him.

He sat in his chair and looked at me with increasingly widening eyes, but he didn't comment, he didn't interrupt. He just listened as I vented and frayed at the edges. When I ran out of steam, he nodded once.

"This voice only you can hear, any clues as to why?"

I shook my head no. He looked worried.

"Even in the magical world, Harry, it's not normal to hear voices. I wouldn't spread that with the other students, mate, you don't want rumours swirling that you're somehow, you know, _off_."

I blinked. "Do people think I'm off?"

He shrugged. "People think anything and everything about you. Everyone thinks about you a lot."

"Do you believe me?" I hated that my voice broke a little at the end of that question. "About the voice I hear? Do you believe what I've told you about it?"

He didn't immediately respond. Those few moments stretched out to an eternity. It felt like he had blanketed my very existence in those few seconds as I waited for his assessment, as though judgment was to be passed on me. Finally, mercifully, he nodded. Slowly.

"I believe you hear a voice." He paused. He said his next words very slowly. "You're obviously special, Harry, you know? It would hardly be surprising that you can hear something the rest of us can't."

I felt my knees buckle in relief, but I held my emotions back. Until that moment, I didn't know how much agony I was in, how much I needed him to understand, how much I needed him to _believe_.

"Have you told any teachers about this?" He asked with an arched eyebrow.

I wrung my hands. "Professor Snape didn't believe me." I mumbled the words.

"What was that now?"

I repeated myself and his face transformed into one of disbelief. "I don't need to tell you that Snape hardly qualifies as the caring sort. You're close enough to Flitwick, what did he have to say?"

I looked to the floor and said nothing.

"Why haven't you told, Flitwick or Sprout or the Headmaster even? This could be important information, Harry, if they know, they might even be able to help."

I looked up to him, a small flame of anger bubbled in my chest. "What if they don't believe me?"

Cedric looked confused. "I think you ought to give them the benefit of the doubt. Especially if this is something that might help Alicia."

Cedric's words rung true and the ensuing guilt somehow stoked the anger in me. "If they don't believe me, I'm a nutter. If they do, well, look how I've been treated since the first incident? The connection to me and Alicia is so small, but they...they...they're _watching_ me. I can't go anywhere alone. If you add crazy murder voice to this...what if they take me out of Hogwarts? I need to be here!"

Cedric scoffed. "They wouldn't do that."

"What makes you so confident?" I challenged him directly for the first time.

He seemed a little taken aback. I wasn't surprised. He was used to me taking his words as gospel. I had grown used to taking his words as gospel.

"Well, you need to study, don't you? Harry Potter being at Hogwarts is important. You made the front page of the _Prophet_, for gods' sake! You not being here would be a big blow to...to...everyone!" He threw his hands wide with his last exclamation.

Of course, he doesn't sense the urgency, the hidden danger. He doesn't know that Voldemort was going to come back and I had to- Don't think about it! I closed my eyes tight and took a calming breath, then let it out slowly. I was not going to think about, I refused to think about it. I had to solve this mystery.

"I need to solve this before I go to them." The words felt true, I knew they were, I felt the weight of them in my heart as I uttered them.

In an odd sort of way, I think Cedric, despite thinking I was barmy, felt the truth of my words. He rubbed his chin and the few sprigs of his growing beard that were on it. "You seem dead sure on this." He shrugged and his demeanour relaxed, that same infectious smile back on his lips. "Well, I'm coming with you then."

"What...?" My anger drained to make way for the surprise following his statement.

Cedric smiled wider. "Two heads are better than one and all that rot. Besides, you could use a little more firepower while running around the castle at night. Also, I know far more hiding spots and shortcuts than you do."

"You want to help me? Even though it's breaking school rules? You could get expelled." I knew I wouldn't.

Cedric got up from his armchair, his blankets still around him. His skin looked bright, like shinning with a pearly sheen, in the common room firelight. The grin on his face was maddeningly wide. "What's Hogwarts without a little adventure? Besides, with the Boy Who Lived, things are bound to get legendary." He winked at me. "Now off to bed with you, it's late and you have a full day of personal tuition tomorrow and we have adventure to be getting on with in the night." He threw his fist in the air.

In that moment, I knew Cedric Diggory was barmy. In that moment, I knew Cedric Diggory was my friend.


	6. Chapter 6 - Never involve A Weasley

**AN: I don't like doing Author's Notes, but this seems necessary since it seems to come up in the comments a lot: Voldemort killed ALL MAGICAL CHILDREN in Britain born after 1 September 1978. Flitwick said in the last scene of Chapter 4 that all magical children, "whether raised by wizards or muggles" disappeared in the Purge. So no muggle-borns and no wizard-raised kids.**

I stared in consternation at my lightly piled breakfast in the Great Hall. While everyone was still reeling in shock about what happened to Alicia on Remembrance Day, no other incidents had occurred. Moreover, the headmaster had announced that a specially brewed mandrake potion would put her to rights as soon as Professor Sprout's mandrakes matured in the spring. It wasn't an ideal solution, but it was one nonetheless.

I played around with my food as I stared up at the enchanted ceiling. A snowstorm was brewing. I remembered the first night I ever saw it. Despite the fear and nervousness at being the only one being Sorted that night, I still couldn't help being awed by its sheer magic. Yet here I was, at the cusp of the Winter Holidays, barely four months into my time at Hogwarts and the charm of that incredibly and intricately woven magic no longer surprised me.

"Harry."

I jumped and turned over. Cedric had just sat down next to me. He usually spent breakfast with his friends from his year and ensured I was included with him during lunch or dinner. He was a late riser and I was an early one, so our breakfast times rarely matched. I was surprised to see him up and about his early, especially since our night-time adventures had made him an even later riser than usual.

"I was thinking we should both stay back during the hols and have a go at exploring the castle without constantly being on the lookout. What do you think?" His words were crisp but his eyes were darting back-and-forth carefully to ensure nobody was overhearing us.

I nodded and smiled faintly. "Sounds fine to me, Ced. But are you sure you don't want to spend time with your family over the break?"

He shrugged and didn't say anything further. He rarely did on the few occasions I mentioned his parents or his family more generally.

I looked back from Cedric and something caught my eye. Fred Weasley was frantically waving his hands and trying to get my attention. I looked over my shoulder to see if he was indicating to someone else, but no, he was looking dead at me. I pointed to myself and he nodded and signed once more for me to come over.

"Since when do you know the Weasley Twins?" Cedric asked from my side.

I turned to him and shrugged. "I only know Fred."

"Funny, I don't think I've ever seen them apart to be honest. Curious."

Curious, indeed.

#

I followed Fred out of the Great Hall and up the Grand Staircase into the maze of moving staircases. But right at the foot of the staircases, Fred turned a sharp right and faced a portrait of an army of medieval soldiers eternally running up a hill on their steeds, spears at the ready. He tapped his wand on the army's general, I think, and muttered something under his breath.

The portrait immediately pressed in and sunk upwards to reveal a corridor within. Fred walked in casually and I followed behind him. A few months ago, this little display would have wowed me to no end, but Hogwarts is a maze full of secret doors and rooms just itching to be discovered.

The corridor within sloped upwards and it was a bit of a trek for a minute until the slope crested at the top. There was a blank wall at this end with a large crack in it and two benches set up on either side. Fred sat down on a bench and indicated I should sit down beside him.

"This is a cool find, Fred," I said looking around and taking in the curious zigzag detailing in the walls of this corridor.

Fred smiled. "Yeah I found it in my Second Year. The army on the hill of that portrait only attacks in the morning and the lead horseman of the army only gives you the password if you ask nicely just as they crest the hill. It was a bit tricky to figure out, but this is a great spot for some thinking before classes." He drummed his fingers on the bench and leaned his head back. "I'm sure this corridor has some significance and I know it will open into something, it's too odd not to, you know? But I haven't been able to figure out what yet."

"Is that why you brought me here? To help you figure his out?" I ran my hands over the zigzags of the wall and felt a soft rustle of wind tickle my palms.

"Oh, no." Fred shook his head. "I mean you're welcome to take a stab at it if you'd like, but I pulled you aside for something else." He squared his shoulders and leaned forward a bit, a look of concentration in his eyes. "I don't know what you and Diggory are up to every night. I know you two are roaming around the castle."

I could feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead. Suddenly, the corridor felt stifling. Would Fred tell on me? Would the teachers find out? Would Cedric be punished for his role in helping me instead of reporting me?

"Harry? Harry."

I felt Fred's hand on my shoulder and it broke me from my spiral. "What are you planning to do with this knowledge? How did you find out about it?"

Fred shrugged and quirked an eyebrow. "I wasn't going to get you two in trouble, mate. Diggory's a good sort and if he's joining, I'm sure it's for a reason. I only mention this because well…I was wondering if it has something to do with the thing that happened to Alicia?"

I looked away. "Wh-What makes you think that?"

Fred chuckled. "You're a terrible liar, Harry." He clapped my back. "Alicia is a good mate of mine and I hate to see her like this. You know she was the one who encouraged me to be friends with you? She had mentioned it to me that morning and then we bumped into each other in my hidey-hole, it felt like fate."

He looked away wistfully, stretching his legs out and tapping his toes together as he was lost in his memories. "Alicia was…is really good with things like that, she can sometimes, I don't know, make these almost weird predictions." He shook his head. "Anyway, my point is, I want to help."

…And it all clicked into place. I blushed a bit. "Alicia is a special friend of yours then?"

Fred smiled. "No, a good friend. I was hoping to make her a special one this year, if she wanted that too."

I nodded. I understood now where Fred was coming from and what he wanted out of this. Fred was a good mate and he wanted to do right by his friend and help in any way that he could. Cedric and I had been on a wild goose chase across the castle for months trying to track the voice down. But there hadn't been any inkling of the voice since mid-November, that's when I last heard it. It could very much be the case that Cedric and I were unable to cover enough ground together, maybe with Fred's help, we could get to the bottom of this faster. I made my decision.

"Alright then, well, I have to catch you up on a few things then, you see, there's this voice…"

#

Cedric was pacing back and forth in the Common Room, his eyes darted from side-to-side as people began to take notice. His shoulders were rigid and his hands clasped together behind his back in a vice. He paused and took a deep breath and then sat down beside me, but didn't look at me.

"Was it wise to tell Weasley about this?"

I got the sense that the question was meant to be rhetorical. I deflated at seeing Cedric's set jaw and general tension. "He already knew we were up to something. Besides, he doesn't want to tell on us or anything, he wants to help. Few people know the ins and outs of the castle better than the Weasley Twins, even you would agree with that."

Cedric seemed to develop a twitch in his eye. His hands balled into fists. "That's not the point, Harry! This is supposed to be our adventure. We would have solved this together, there was no need to involve that…that glory hound Gryffindor into Hufflepuff business."

I was taken aback by his response. "Um…What are you talking about? This isn't about Houses or rivalries. This is about getting to the bottom of what happened to Alicia and preventing it from happening to anyone else. I understand Fred's reason for wanting to join us and frankly, I think he'd be even more committed to this than us. We need more help on this, Cedric."

Cedric grumbled some more but didn't mention the topic to me again.

#

"What do you mean you can track everyone in the castle?" Cedric scream-whispered to Fred.

Fred took a step back with his hands up in surrender. "The Map isn't perfect, but it helps us keep track of secret passageways and especially, Filch's and Norris's movements. It's why George and I rarely get caught."

I got in-between the two Third Years and looked at Cedric. "This is hugely helpful, Cedric. There's no reason to be so…angry about it."

"He should hand this over to Dumbledore immediately. Can you imagine how much this Map would help the teachers? Maybe if they had this Map from the beginning, they could have prevented what happened to Alicia and-"

Fred pushed past me and slammed into Cedric, pressing him into the wall behind. A portrait of two seemingly noble potentially Frenchwomen backed away as Cedric fell on their gilded portrait frame. They gathered their skirts and jumped into the portrait next door, but continued to keep a close eye on the safety of their portrait, ready to scream if the situation demanded it.

I jumped over and bunched Fred's robes in my hands and began to pull him back. "What are you doing? We're on the same team here!" I scream-whispered too.

Cedric and Fred continued to give each other hard stares. Cedric grabbed Fred's hands on his robes and pulled them off himself. He then pushed Fred back.

I stumbled back too. I got my footing back a split second after and immediately placed myself between the two angry teens, who had yet to break their stare contest. I pushed the two of them apart and Fred finally looked away.

"Okay, new rule: no turning on each other in the middle of a corridor when we are supposed to be searching for the voice." I turned to Cedric. "What you said was completely uncalled for Cedric. That was just…mean."

Cedric looked chagrined and ready to protest.

I turned to Fred. "But Cedric does have a point, Fred. The Map is incredibly useful and would be useful to the staff." Without even turning around, I knew Cedric was smiling.

Fred huffed. "Except for one thing Harry, whom do you think they will keep an eye on first and foremost if they have the Map?"

I froze. I turned to Cedric who looked equally stumped.

"Yeah, Mr. Goody Goody here hadn't thought that one through had he?"

I shook my head. "We can talk about the Map later. Let's get on with why we're here, alright?"

Both Cedric and Fred nodded at that.

"Right okay. Fred, you have the Map and can navigate the castle on your own pretty well. Cedric and I will follow our usual routes for when I have heard the voice in the past.

Why don't we meet back here in 45 minutes and compare notes?"

"I can't hear the voice Harry does," Cedric piped in, "but whenever Harry has heard the voice before, I can usually hear a faint sound in the background. It's like steam coming out of a kettle but in a different room. Faint, but audible if you pay attention to it."

Fred nodded.

#

I walked alongside Cedric as we skulked the corridors of Hogwarts. "What was that about Cedric?"

"What are you talking about Harry?" He looked at me askance.

"That. That whole performance with Fred. I have never seen you behave like that. You have been against him joining us from the start and I don't understand why."

Cedric looked away and even in the faint torchlight, I could tell he was thinking deeply. I had seen Cedric in such pensive moods before and I usually just let him be until he had had the time to gather his thoughts.

"My father always said, 'Never involve a Weasley'. They are proud and reliable, but foolhardy and will get themselves killed out of sheer stubbornness on most occasions. I didn't want to compromise our mission in case Fred blabbed or George blabbed for that matter, since they usually tell each other everything; or worse, we got into a tough situation and Fred made things worse somehow by being the hero."

I stared at Cedric. "That's it?"

"That's it."

Fred told me I was a bad liar, but I definitely think Cedric was worse.

I opened my mouth ready to say something else when-

_"Kill, maim, eat, TEAR, hungry…"_

I stopped. Cedric stopped a step ahead. He must have read the look on my face and his demeanour transformed from uncertain to determined.

"Which way?"

We both strained our ears trying to catch the sound.

_"Kill, rip…tear"_

"That way," I said pointing back to the way we came. "Hurry."

Cedric had longer legs than me and he sprinted ahead. I raced to keep up with him while keeping an ear out at all times.

We followed the voice through a maze of corridors, trying our level best to be as quiet as possible. But regardless, once again, the voice was beginning to fade into the background.

"Cedric…" I said while trying to catch my breath. "It's going away again."

"Where Harry?" He wasn't the least bit winded.

"I don't know…" I pressed my ear to the wall and tried so hard to hear something…anything. "Downwards, away…I don't know."

Cedric put his hand on my shoulder. "We'll get it next time. Let's go find Fred."

I nodded. We walked down the corridor surreptitiously as we tried to make our way back to our meeting point. As we passed the portrait of a wizard pushing back a cascading wave, Cedric pressed a sconce attached to a nearby wall and opened a side passageway which we squeezed into. We cut across the entire floor and made it to the other side through a camouflaged door in the wall.

I followed Cedric out and closed the door behind me, only to bump into Cedric's frozen back. I stepped back and lost my footing. I fell to the floor and looked up at Cedric, annoyed.

He didn't even turn around to help me.

Then he screamed.

I got up and looked at what he was looking at. That was when I screamed.

Fred was pressed against a wall unmoving, he was curled up into a ball with his head popped up in abject horror. In front of him, the Bloody Baron stood equally frozen. Fred was petrified and so was the Baron. That alone was terrifying, but not horrific, not scream-inducing.

What horrified both me and Cedric was that in front of the Baron lay the unmoving body of Argus Filch, lying on his back and facing upwards. Except unlike Fred, who was clearly petrified down to the last hair, Argus Filch's body was moving perceptibly in the cold winter draft wafting through Hogwarts.

Unlike Fred, it seemed that Mr. Filch was most assuredly dead.


	7. Chapter 7 - That's A Bold Claim

Death is a strange thing. You know it exists, you know it's inevitable, but to see it is nonetheless horrific. That's what I used to think. My first experience witnessing a dead body was certainly scary, but not _horrific_, especially once the initial surprise of it all had worn off.

Truthfully, as I sat opposite the Headmaster with his eyes red behind his half-moon spectacles, I realised that he was much more shaken and much more upset than I was. I think it's because he knew Filch - no point worrying about calling him "Mister" Filch now, he's not the caretaker anymore after all - whereas I only knew him briefly as someone to avoid at all costs and as an annoying and sometimes worrying roadblock to my mystery's resolution.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. I didn't know if he was thinking or trying to pretend this situation hadn't happened. Cedric and I had been in his office for the better part of the night. Aurors - that's wizarding police fellows - were called in, we gave our statements, the petrified body of Fred Weasley and the ghost of the Bloody Baron were moved - though how they moved a ghost was mind-boggling to me - to the Hospital Wing to give Alicia some company.

The Aurors did not know about the voice in the walls. Cedric made a tactical decision to keep _that_ little tidbit to ourselves because he was right, the last think we wanted law enforcement to think was that I was somehow suspicious or _off_ in the middle of a murder investigation. We knew we had to figure this out somehow, but how? Cedric had long since departed for the Common Room, but I was still sat in the Headmaster's office.

My chest twinged and I wrapped my left hand in a fist in my lap. That's two of my friends who had been attacked now and there was nothing I could do about it. Fred should have never been in that situation, I should have listened to Cedric, we should have never split up-

"Don't, Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore.

I looked up. "What?" I paused. "Sir." I added.

"Through my many years and my many failures, I have learnt some hard-won lessons. One of them is this: Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you cannot learn from it, you can only wallow in it. What is done is done, ruminating on it, brings you nothing." He fingered a small candy in a dish on his desk and unconsciously unwrapped it and stuck it in his mouth. He chewed.

"Fred is in the Hospital Wing," I said.

"Where he will make a full recovery in time, I assure you. I cannot sadly say the same for Mr. Filch." Dumbledore sighed and pressed the bridge of his nose. He looked back at me with the expression of a man who was tired, bone tired, but could not help but go on.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked the dreaded question.

"The school will likely close, Mr. Potter."

I sat up at that. That couldn't happen. I had only just found Hogwarts. I had only had the gift of being here for a scant few months. He couldn't take that away from me. He couldn't! "What can we do to stop this?"

"Even if we can somehow convince the Board of Governors to abandon that course of action, it seems inevitable that Hogwarts is not safe for you anymore." He intertwined his hands before his face and regarded me from over them - a hint of steel in his eyes - and I knew, this was a battle I wouldn't win.

But I had to fight nonetheless. "What if I say no?"

He shrugged. "We have the right to remove a student for his or her own safety from school premises."

My breath got stuck in my throat and I could feel moisture welling up in my eyes. They would send me away. They would send me back to the Dursleys. I would never see Hogwarts again. "What can be done to stop them?" I hated the way my voice broke as I asked that question.

The Headmaster, mercifully, pretended not to notice. "Nothing short of catching the perpetrator."

I blinked. "There is a voice, in the walls, that only I can hear."

The Headmaster looked up surprised.

"I first heard it a few days after Halloween when Alicia was attacked. That's what Cedric, Fred and I were looking for…"

And I sang like a canary.

#

Headmaster Dumbledore had addressed the school population at dinner and announced the death - murder - of the caretaker, Argus Filch. Everyone was suitably horrified. Then he announced that the school was being shut down and all hell broke loose.

You couldn't find a single spot to sit anywhere in the Common Room that night. All the students were whispering and talking urgently to one another.

"But what about the OWLs?" Moaned a Fifth Year.

"What about them?" Another snarked back. "A man is dead, I think exam dates should take a backseat."

"Did you hear Fred Weasley was petrified but only Filch died? I reckon it was because Filch was a squib."

"How am I going to fulfil the conditions for my St. Mungo's Apprenticeship without giving my NEWTs?" A Seventh Year exclaimed from somewhere else.

"Merlin, have some bloody respect for the dead, Daniel!" His girlfriend said while smacking him upside the head, her eyes red with tears.

"How can they shut down Hogwarts? Are they mad? Over the death of a squib?"

"He was still a person, Jackie! Don't be rude. Besides, one of us could be next and I rather it not be me."

I closed my eyes to shut out the voices and heaved a deep breath.

"Harry?"

I opened my eyes at the familiar voice and smiled weakly at Cedric. He looked thin and tired like he hadn't slept a wink. I imagined I looked similar. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Filch's body laid out, resting, on the cold stone floor. I remembered the sound of Cedric screaming and I remembered the terrible fear that gripped me when my eyes travelled to the petrified form of a crouched Fred Weasley right behind the dead caretaker.

"Are you doing alright, Cedric?" I knew he wasn't.

"Yea-yeah. I'm coping." He knew it was a lie.

But these are the games of pleasantries we play.

Cedric sat down beside me on the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees and stared forward with a blank expression. I figured his mind was miles away.

"Dumbledore promised me that nobody would know about our involvement." In the grand scheme of things, I knew Cedric didn't care about that. But I figured I should tell him anyway.

He jerked at that bit of news and looked at me, really looked at me for the first time since that night. He nodded quickly. I was concerned he hadn't heard me at all. It didn't matter.

"Hogwarts is shutting down," he said.

I didn't respond. What was the point?

He chuckled weakly. "I really thought we would go on a grand adventure, you and I." His voice broke a little and he paused, getting himself under control. I gave him the dignity of not looking at him while he did. "I should have figured that it would be…" He trailed off. There was no delicate way of putting it after all.

"I want you to have a good break, Cedric. However long it may last." Winter Hols were being moved up by a few days and all the students would be departing for Hogsmeade station tomorrow after breakfast. I pushed myself up from the floor and dusted myself off.

"Harry-"

"Good night, Cedric."

I walked away without looking back. Two friends. Both attacked. I wouldn't let Cedric be the third. I could feel a sob making its way up from my chest and I ruthlessly pushed it back down. No. This was not the time.

#

Breakfast was a subdued affair that morning. The Headmaster was not present and McGonagall was going to take the lead in shepherding the students on after breakfast. Questions lingered and were whispered among the worried students. When would Hogwarts reopen? How did Filch die? Harry badly wanted to tell them all he knew. But he knew it wouldn't help.

He waited for the sombre meal to end and Professor McGonagall gallantly moved the shuffling students along. I followed from the rear. I watched as a mass of students from all Houses were led to the lake where a team of carriages being pulled by invisible forces stood waiting for them. I carefully dawdled as the students departed and made my way back into the Great Hall and waited.

And waited.

The silence was deafening.

"Mr. Potter." I looked up and saw Professor Flitwick standing at the entrance of the Great Hall. "Please come with me."

I nodded and got up. I joined the Professor in the Entrance Hall as he stood with the other Heads of House, the other teachers were watching - guarding - the students up until the moment they got on the Hogwarts Express with most of them accompanying the students all the way back to London. The quartet of Professors looked at me with various unreadable expressions. None of them said a word, though I knew they had a lot of words to say.

We marched in synchronicity up the Grand Staircase and made our way to the Headmaster's office. I nodded to them and made my way upstairs. They didn't follow. I knocked on the Headmaster's office door at the top of his winding staircase.

"Come in, Mr. Potter," he said.

I turned the door and entered. At this point, none of the various moving instruments even distracted me. Although I noted that many of them were curiously silent.

"Have a seat," he said pointing to the chair in front of his desk.

I did so and placed my hands on my lap in front of me. This was the arrangement we had made. Since I was the only person who could hear this voice, I would be here to help the Professors and Ministry officials track down the monster that killed Filch in a controlled, measured environment with as minimal direct involvement as possible.

"Now Mr. Potter, shortly, various Aurors will be joining us, along with some creature experts. I have already passed on your observations to them and they have been studying the clues. Before they arrive, I would like to conduct a little experiment with you, if I may?" He raised his wand and sat ready.

I nodded.

With a swish and twirl, he conjured a little brown snake onto his table. I leaned back instinctively as the snake wriggled around the Headmaster's desk. I looked at Dumbledore confused and back at the snake.

"What do you want me to do?"

He pointed at the snake. "Can you talk to it?"

I blinked. I had spoken to a snake at the zoo once, so I knew I could do it.

"_Hello."_

The snaked stopped its wild slithering and turned to me and froze.

"_Ssspeaker callsss me."_

"_Ssstay in that position and don't move._"

The snake obeyed without question. I looked up to Dumbledore who was frowning heavily. He nodded as if I confirmed his thoughts.

"You're a parselmouth, Mr. Potter," he said.

The confusion on my face was likely clear.

"A parselmouth is a wizard with the ability to talk to snakes. The founder of Slytherin House, Salazar Slytherin, and all of his descendants were parselmouths, as was Voldemort. His use of that skill is widely documented and he is known to have killed many people with the use of poisonous snakes in his raids. It is widely believed to be the sign of a dark wizard because of that."

I paled at his words and my mouth went dry.

"Not to worry, Mr. Potter. Your secret is safe with me. I suspect that the night you survived The Purge, whatever magic connected you to Voldemort, it may have given you some of his abilities, including this one. However, even with my endorsement, this will be difficult to prove to the wizarding world at large and now, in the wake of two student attacks and the murder of one of our staff members, it would be unhelpful to release this information to the general public."

He paused to take a breath and regard one of his instruments. With a lazy turn of his wand, the stoic snake disappeared off his desk and his fireplace sparked green flames and came to life.

Several men dressed in Auror robes emerged from within. My eye was particularly drawn to a tall black man with a serious demeanour. I was only mildly less terrified of him when he gave a small smile and a wink. His name was Kingsley, as I came to learn.

Leading the charge was a man with more parts missing and replaced than whole. His stringy brown hair was always thrown and in disarray as he turned his head from side-to-side to observe every aspect of his surroundings, with every step his took. A curiously revolving blue eye that could not have been natural peeped out of his right eye socket.

"School's empty?" He asked.

"Yes, Alastor." Dumbledore responded. He turned to me. "Mr. Potter, you will accompany Auror Moody around the castle with his team. I shall join you in some time. I am waiting on the arrival of our dangerous creatures expert. He took an emergency portkey from India and his on his way as swiftly as possible."

I nodded respectfully at the Headmaster and rose to follow the strange Auror and his retinue.

#

Auror Moody tactfully decided that he would lead with me on his own to get some more information from me as we searched. The other Aurors would explore different parts of the castle in smaller teams. They had been given Cedric's description of what a normal wizard would be able to hear in the vicinity of the perpetrator and were using something called supersensory charms on their ears to help them pick up on the sound. I felt guilty for having kept this information to myself for so long because neither Cedric nor I had ever even imagined such a charm existed, let alone considered using it.

"Albus tells me you did some investigative work of your own accord, lad? For some time?" Auror Moody asked me to break up the sound of our footsteps hitting the stone floor of the eerily silent castle.

I gulped. "Yes, sir."

He harrumphed to make his displeasure clear. "Did you discover anything _useful_ during these merry little midnight jaunts?"

My back tensed at his tone and my jaw clenched, but I pushed my anger back down and looked him straight in his magical eye. "Whatever it is, it's large, Fred Weasley and Alicia, if you look at their bodies, they were staring right at the thing in their petrified forms. Also, it can kill and petrify people, including ghosts, without any mess. There was no blood or signs of struggle around Mr. Filch, which means there was no chance for a fight at all. If anything, Mr. Filch looked shocked and that's it."

Auror Moody continued to look at me while his magical eye went round and round in circles. "Hmmm…keen observations. Not terrible for a child. I think we can safely assume that whatever it is, is some kind of large snake then."

My steps faltered at that, but I kept up with Auror Moody and hoped that my fear didn't show too much.

"You have to get better at hiding your reactions, lad," he said. "Not to worry. Albus and I, we have an accord, of sorts. What he tells me, stays with me." He tapped the side of his nose.

I nodded in relief.

"Have you heard of Slytherin's infamous Chamber of Secrets?" Auror Moody asked.

"Can't say I have."

Auror Moody nodded as if expecting this answer. "Legendary secret room that Salazar Slytherin himself left behind when he was banished from the castle for trying to kill muggle-born students, or so the story goes. Records say that he left a monster behind, one to do his bidding and finish his great work of making Hogwarts the finest institution for _proper_ young witches and wizards."

"This pattern of attacks, it's happened before. Fifty years ago, in fact. It was all very hush hush back then. I only know about it because I was a first-year at Hogwarts at the time. Petrified students, fear around the castle. But the perpetrator then had more flair. All around the castle, it would leave signs saying that the 'Heir of Slytherin' is back at Hogwarts and ready to 'cleanse the castle of muggle filth'. Curiously, none of that propaganda and fear-mongering this time. Just attacks."

I stared on wide-eyed. "Did they find out what happened then?"

Auror Moody shook his head in the negative. "A student was implicated. But they could never make the charges stick. The student was housing an illegal creature in the castle, but it was a baby acromantula, a dangerous creature, but not something that had the ability to wreak the havoc of these incidents. They did kick him out of school for good measure. And the attacks did mysteriously stop after that. So nobody looked into it any further."

I didn't know what an acromantula was. Something else to look up alongside supersensory charms once all this was said and done. I was lost in my thoughts and a thought came to me. I remembered studying Greek history back in muggle school and there was a snake-like being that could petrify with just a look.

"Could it be Medusa?" I asked.

Auror Moody looked at me confused when a voice spoke from behind me.

"That's a good guess."

I turned around to see Headmaster Dumbledore walking up with a young, smiling man next to him. The young man came right up to me and folded his arms, his eyes alight in thought. "The pattern of attacks does certainly fit a gorgon to some extent. But gorgons cannot survive in cold temperatures, something you will learn if you continue with Care of Magical Creatures until your NEWTs. A Scottish winter would have flushed a gorgon out faster than you can say 'Quidditch'. I think it's something closer to the snake family than a bastardised humanoid experiment gone bad."

"Any guesses as of yet?" Auror Moody asked.

The young man regarded Auror Moody with a thoughtful expression. "A few, none of them you would like. My leading guess, given the mythology of the Chamber of Secrets that the Headmaster explained to me, is a _basilisk_."

Auror Moody stepped back and for once, placed both his eyes squarely on the man in front of him without any distractions. "That's a bold claim."

"A man is dead. I think we should consider every option, bold or otherwise."

"You're sure it's a creature?"

"I'm a creature specialist." He shrugged. "The Headmaster is certain it's a creature. If you think it's a person, well, it's certainly not my job to prove that one way or another." He stood with his hands on his waist and mirth in his blue eyes.

"Even if it is creature, someone is controlling it." Auror Moody countered.

The man nodded. "Certainly. But again, that's for you to figure out, not me." He smiled. "I've missed you, Mad-Eye."

Auror Moody rolled his eyes. "One of the best days of my career was when you left the corps. Nobody can convince me otherwise."

The young man chuckled. He turned to look at Harry and bent low. "And you must be the wizard at the centre of it all. It's nice to see you again, Harry. My name is Sirius Black."

He held out a hand for me to shake, which I did.

I liked him already.

11


	8. Chapter 8 - Here

"_Of the many fearsome __beasts__ and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live up to a hundred years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it._"

I closed my copy of _Most Macabre Monstrosities _and extinguished the candle next to my table in the Library. It was close to breakfast time and I was due to join my Auror guard at the entrance of the Library as they too fruitlessly searched for more information to find the mythical basilisk roaming the halls of Hogwarts. The problem was that none of the texts ever talked about _finding_ a basilisk, they were decidedly more concerned with _running away_ from one. Not unreasonable advice all things considered.

I sighed as I moved away the textbook in front of me. I knew that Sirius Black was working with Hagrid to gather a bunch of roosters to use against the basilisk, whenever it was discovered. All the plans were ready, but nothing had come off them yet.

It had been a week.

If nothing continued to happen over the next ten days, then for the first time since 1727, when the plague of dragonpox infected nearly half the magical population of Britain, Hogwarts would not be open after the Winter Break. That was a sobering factoid to learn from the surprisingly chipper Madam Pince, I guess I would be happy too without children running around my precious library and ruining my precious books with their sticky fingers and _desire for knowledge_ and other such rot.

I turned to the next table over and waved at the no-longer-quite-so-scary Auror Shacklebolt ("call me Shack"). Once you looked past his height, demeanour, chillingly deep voice and overall imposing presence, he was surprisingly nice with a soft spot for the Wigtown Wanderers' Quidditich team and _Arroz Con Lech _\- some kind of Caribbean rice pudding. He also had a son in Third Year at Hogwarts.

I stood up and followed Shacklebolt's lead as he led me out of the Library. Everyday, a different minder would watch over me as I helped with research efforts in the morning and then patrolled the school corridors for hours on end with the Auror teams throughout the day, hoping to catch a sound of the basilisk.

Sometimes, when bored, the Aurors would even teach me some spells. Kingsley kindly taught me the supersensory charm. Apparently, there were limits to its use, but targeted use on certain body parts enhanced your abilities, but you could only handle the strain for a limited amount of time. He grinned and warned me not to use it on _all_ my body parts and be careful with my experimentation. I didn't understand what he meant but he just laughed and said he would tell me when I was older. Whatever.

Other than Auror Moody and Shacklebolt, his deputy, the other Aurors were not told about my _parseltongue_ ability, but I had a feeling they knew and chose not to comment.

"I'm surprised you haven't given Quidditch some serious thought, Harry." Shacklebolt's voice reverberated in the silent castle.

I shrugged. "I thought about it. I had a few lessons with Madam Hooch and they went well. I did speak to Professor Sprout about trying out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, but she told me that First Years weren't allowed and it wouldn't be fair to the others to make an exception for me, so I thought next year maybe…" I trailed off.

The fact that there may not be a next year to try out hung in the air between us, unspoken but as loud as a church bell.

Shacklebolt muttered something in response, presumably to try to alleviate the awkwardness of the moment. It didn't work.

"_Kill, rip…"_

I froze and turned to the voice. It was faint. But it was there. The basilisk. Finally.

Shacklebolt turned to see my frozen form. Something about my face must have given it away and his light expression changed to alert and focused in a heartbeat. He withdrew his wand from within his sleeve and held it firm in his right hand, pointing downwards.

"That way," I said, pointing to the Hall of Staircases.

We charged along and I saw Shacklebolt incant a spell that expelled some silvery light from the tip of his wand that formed into some kind of animal, which scarpered off in a different direction. Interesting. But there would be time for that later. I placed a hand on each of my pockets and felt the familiar weight of my handheld mirrors. Moody insisted everyone carry two on their person since the day that Sirius hypothesised that the creature was likely a basilisk.

A faint whisper just barely audible. "It's moving downwards again."

We rushed through the Hall of Staircases and moved towards the main Entrance Hall, ready to head to the dungeons. But by then, the trail had run cold.

Shacklebolt swore something colourful that I wasn't sure I even understood, but I appreciated his frustration. I, for the most part, kept my ears peeled, just in case.

To no avail.

#

All the Aurors, Headmaster Dumbledore, Sirius and I sat around a round table in the middle of the Great Hall as we ate breakfast.

"We know it keeps moving downwards to escape,"Auror Moody said. He was suspiciously regarding all the people in the room, most of whom were his handpicked Auror team as he drank deeply from a personal canteen he kept on his person at all times.

Sirius made a small noise of disagreement and shook his head in the negative. Dumbledore nodded at Sirius' reaction. "That hardly matters, Alastor. The castle does not conform to ordinary ideas of direction, as you might remember," Sirius said.

Auror Moody grunted in annoyance.

"I have a question," I said with as much confidence I could muster. All eyes turned to me. "Um, the Headmaster did tell me that the snake was travelling around the castle using pipes. But um, the books I've read say that basilisks can get very big. Scarily big. How many pipes do we have that could fit a snake of that size?"

Auror Moody nodded at me with what looked like an expression of approval. I didn't know what to do with that since it seemed like I was a liability to him at all times. "The lad has a point. Albus?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard in thought. "It's a good point, Mr. Potter. Had school been in session, I would have awarded Hufflepuff 5 points for your insight. However, Hogwarts' internal structure constantly changes, that includes the plumbing. Indeed, it was a tricky bit of enchanting that got the entire castle fixed with indoor plumbing in 1753. Headmistress Derwent in fact-"

"Yes, thank you, Albus, that should be enough," Auror Moody said without even trying to hide his eye roll.

I smothered my giggle at that.

Auror Moody turned back to Sirius, his eye revolving. "Black, I've been doing my research too. No text suggests that a basilisk can live past a hundred years. This one has been here since the founding of the school. That makes it over a millennium. How do you figure that?"

Sirius smiled and shrugged. "All recorded incidents with a basilisk have been at attempts at slaying them. They are not creatures that have been studied or had their longevities measured in captivity, or if they have, the researchers have not been forthcoming with publishing their results. Regardless, when a basilisk is involved, people usually die until the beast is put down. They are, after all, the product of a dark wizard's experimentation, not a natural predator birthed by Father Nature."

Sirius paused and put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "Who knows what their limits are when left unchecked? Or maybe you're right, basilisks aren't supposed to live that long, but then how has this one been kept alive for so long? Is it somehow immortal? Or indeed, it may not be a basilisk at all, but something more sinister, something Salazar Slytherin in all his mad genius cooked up especially to keep his secrets hidden?"

Everyone seemed appropriately horrified at this line of reasoning.

Sirius tapped his chin thoughtfully and smiled. "Not to worry, I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. Come now gents," Sirius said with his arms folded. "Perhaps we have been looking at this all wrong? Instead of trying to find the beast, we ought to try to find the maker."

"How do you mean?" Shacklebolt asked.

Sirius shrugged but there was a knowing smile on his face. "Well, the way I see it, old Salazar made his special private clubhouse to hide his monster because he couldn't get his way, or so the tale goes. But we know nothing in Hogwarts stays put where it's supposed to. I doubt he left only one door for entry and egress. What were some of the main rooms that have existed since the founding and rarely, if ever, move, Albus?"

Dumbledore hummed. "The only spaces within the Castle that never change are the Great Hall, the Entrance Hall and the Grand Staircase. A small concession that Ravenclaw granted as the story goes. If Slytherin had indeed placed a convenient entrance to his Chamber, it would likely be somewhere around those spaces."

That's when I had a thought of a special corridor. I'm pretty sure my eyes widened and I looked straight at Sirius.

He looked back and his grin intensified, amusement shining in his bright blue eyes. "Thoughts, Harry?"

#

I stood in front of the invading army cresting a hill and swallowed another gulp of nervousness. The lead horseman of the army was nearly down the grassy hill so I knew we only had a little time to access the corridor. All the adult witches and wizards stood behind me, waiting.

I whispered to the horseman. "Um, hi. My friend Fred said you know the password to the corridor. I was wondering if you could tell me what it is. We really need some help now.

"_Quattuor soli._" The portrait whispered back. I nodded in relief.

I tapped my wand on the portrait and muttered the word and just like before, the portrait sunk in and up with the wall it was hung on, revealing the curiously empty corridor behind it with all its zigzag detailing.

I walked into the corridor and Sirius, Shacklebolt and Dumbledore followed after, only for the main entrance to snap shut behind them.

Dumbledore regarded the closed wall curiously, tapped his wand on it and closed his eyes. "It seems it is only four at a time."

Sirius and Shacklebolt merely shrugged. I wasn't surprised either. Secret corridors and rooms in Hogwarts often had strange and unique rules.

"I shall send a message to our lost friends, gentlemen," he said cordially.

The three of us began walking up the corridor to approach the blank slate of wall at the end with the large crack in it and the two benches on either side. Sirius and Shacklebolt were looking around curiously, drinking it all in. As we got to the blank wall at the end of the corridor, I turned to the two of them and shrugged with a worried smile.

"Well, this corridor felt old, I dunno, you did say to turn every stone." I wasn't sure what made me think this corridor was the answer, but it felt like worth a try.

Dumbledore had caught up with us by this point. He was eyeing the corridor with interest, particularly the zigzagging on the walls.

"A fascinating find, Mr. Potter."

I looked to the floor. "Fred showed it to me. He found it in his Second Year." I felt a little weight in my chest thinking about my petrified friend. I wondered what it felt like to be petrified and then stopped that train of thought forcefully.

"What made you think this might be the way?" Sirius asked.

I looked around and felt a little heat under my collar as the three wizards looked down at me. "Um, well, it's a dead end."

Sirius raised his brow while Dumbledore smiled.

"What I mean is, it feels like a dead end. But this is Hogwarts, it wasn't made to block you-"

"-but to make you think." Sirius finished for me and I flushed and nodded with a smile.

Shacklebolt chuckled. "Haven't heard that one since I was a schoolboy and cursing the disappearance of our Defence classroom right alongside Professor Merrythought."

"I shall try to see where this corridor stands amongst the Hogwarts wards. Please excuse my lack of participation for a few moments," Dumbledore said. He then closed his eyes and clasped his wand in both hands, a soft glow appeared at the tip.

Shacklebolt wandered over to the side and touched the zigzags on the walls. Sirius on the other hand went straight to the dead end and tapped the crack in the wall. He looked at it closely and appeared to be studying it. I looked at him, wondering what he was thinking. Slowly, a big grin broke out over his face.

"Harry, come stand beside me for a minute."

I complied.

"From a certain angle, wouldn't you agree this crack in the wall looks almost…serpentine?"

Dumbledore had joined us from behind at that point, keenly studying the wall alongside Sirius.

I nodded in response to Sirius' question. "So?"

Sirius grinned. "Well, we do have a _Parselmouth_ with us. Be a good lad, tell it to open up."

I stared at him in confusion for a second before looking back at the crack. "Uh…open."

"That was English," Shacklebolt said.

I scratched my head and looked at Dumbledore.

He nodded. "Close your eyes, Mr. Potter, imagine a snake in your mind's eye and imagine yourself speaking to the snake."

I did as I was told. I imagined the same little brown snake Dumbledore had conjured in his office. With that picture fixed in my mind's eyes, I tried again.

"_Open_."

The corridor shook. The crack in the wall at the dead end shifted, moved, and then _slithered. _All the other zigzags in the corridor walls began to slither towards the dead end and converge in the centre, creating a door-like gap in the previously solid wall. A soft light emanated from beyond.

All four of us couldn't help but stare on, transfixed.

Sirius was the first to break from his stupor. "Wicked."

The corridor opened into a wide open clearing space. It was octagonal with perfectly angled walls framing the room on each of its eight sides. There were mirrors all along the walls and painted onto the mirrors were images of little green snakes. The floor was the same décor as the corridor we just walked in from - black and castle rock.

"Oh my," Dumbledore said.

I turned to look at him and saw that his eyes were facing upwards. I followed his line of sight and saw that the entire ceiling was transparent and from there, we could see all the way into the Hufflepuff Common Room. But oddly, the colours were off - they were green and silver instead of the badger yellow and black.

"Figures, Slytherin built a ceiling to spy on his own students," Shacklebolt said, now also looking up in wonder.

Ah, that explained the colours. Though I was happy to note that the Slytherins did not have beanbags.

"The Slytherin Common Room was moved to its current location after the second seige of Hogwarts in 1322, when the Slytherin and Hufflepuff Towers were destroyed." Dumbledore said lightly.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Is there anything about the school that you don't know, Albus?" Sirius asked the question on what I presumed was on everyone's minds.

Dumbledore chuckled, looking away from the ceiling. He pointed upwards. "What is now the Slytherin Common Room, historically, was Salazar Slytherin's own personal quarters where he lived with his family. Hogwarts was built to accommodate thousands comfortably. We were sieged often in centuries past. The record shows that once the students moved in from their respective ruined Towers, the faculty and school board elected not to reconstruct their Towers and the new Common Rooms and dormitories were set evermore. It was quite the scandal at the time."

"So he chose to spy on his family then? How comforting." Sirius quipped and laughed a booming laugh.

"Fascinating history lesson, Professor," Shacklebolt said, "but how does this help us find Slytherin's secret Chamber?"

Dumbledore tapped his chin. He looked towards me and I stared back, not sure what he wanted. "Mr. Potter, why don't you ask one of these lovely snakes on the mirrors?"

I blinked. Well, alright then. I nervously shuffled to one of the many green snakes slithering all over the mirrors. I focused on one green little thing and cleared my throat.

"_Hi, um, do you know the way to Sssslytherin's Chamber?_"

The snake hissed something but I could barely hear it. I leaned in closer.

There was a garbled sound that I couldn't really understand, but I did catch the last word: "_Here._"

I leaned back confused and turned to face my eagerly awaiting comrades.

"It says we're already _heeee-_"

I yelped in horror as I felt a mirror-snake coil around my midsection and pull me into the mirror behind in the span of a heartbeat. I heard the echo of Dumbledore, Shacklebolt and Sirius reacting. My last sight was that of Dumbledore pointing his wand, all amusement wiped from his expression and replaced with dead seriousness. Alas, the snake was too fast even for his casting.

There was a whirl of colour, blank white, then black. I could feel a scream climbing up my throat as the kaleidoscope of the rainbow flashed before my eyes. But before I could let out a shout, I was spat out and thrown on hard, wet, stone floor. I heard as my head went _thwack_ and groaned justifiably.

I sat up slowly, a hand placed on the back of my head and massaging it. I knew it was going to bruise. Then I remembered what happened, my eyes widened and my heartbeat, which had barely gone done at all, spiked up further. I stood up and immediately felt dizzy. I rested my hand on the black stretch of wall I was confident I had fallen out of. I began to bang the wall with my fist.

"Professor! Sirius! Kingsley!" I called. I wasn't sure if they could hear or see me, but I received not a sound in response.

Okay, Harry. You're stuck somewhere but you can get out of this. Hogwarts wasn't made to block you, but-

"_KILL, RIP, TEAR, HUUUUUNGRYYYYY…"_

My rapidly beating heart hammered harder. For months I had hunted this sound and always heard it muffled, and from a distance. I could hear the words of the creature loud and clear now. There was no barrier separating us. It was here, in this room, with me, somewhere.

I turned around from the blank stretch of black wall, but stopped in my movements immediately. I closed my eyes tight and pulled out my wand.

I was so grateful for all my morning Library time because I had had the chance to look up and learn from Shacklebolt the supersensory charm. With a soft incantation and a wiggle and jab on my ears, my hearing increased tenfold. The beauty of the charm now was I could pick up vibrations. With training and expertise, one could pick up on the lightest footsteps, but I had neither training nor expertise, yet the charm, even on the ears of a novice, was sensitive enough to pick up on the movements of a twenty foot snake that moaned about its appetite a lot.

A small slither, somewhere to the left of my current position. I turned to the right and opened my eyes carefully. Not dead. Good. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small handheld mirror, silently sending a prayer of gratitude to Moody and his paranoia.

I began to take small steps to the right, as quietly as possible while running over the facts I had picked up about basilisks from Sirius and my research. They were fast; they were strong; their skins were magic-resistant; their yellow eyes killed or petrified, but only when they looked at you and intentionally made eye contact and not if you casually got a glimpse of them; they didn't eat petrified victims; their fangs were poisonous; upon encountering one, run away, fast.

Another slither, a little further way. Good.

Basilisks were a bastardised creation of Emeric The Evil. Even though modelled after snakes, they did not have snake-like biology because they were not naturally occurring or born. They did not see with the smells on their tongues, they saw with their killer yellow eyes. They heard from the holes on the sides of their heads. If stuck with a basilisk and unable to escape, take out the eyes, it delays the inevitable.

Fortunately, there is a conjunctivitis curse designed exactly for this kind of situation. Unfortunately, I hadn't got around to learning it because I was so focused on the supersonsory charm instead. I cursed myself, my mind running feverishly blank at my stupidity, the beginning of tears filling my eyes.

It's okay. It's _okay_. I breathed as deeply as I could without making a sound. Focus on the here and now. Regrets are not helpful, listen to Dumbledore's words. Besides, if I died because the basilisk heard me crying, well, I would never forgive myself. Deep breaths.

The tears dried a bit and I felt calmer. I looked around at my surroundings through the mirror in my hand. The room looked large. I tilted the mirror up, no transparent ceiling, but the ceiling was _very_ high. I guess that makes sense, the room had to accommodate a giant snake. There was mould, rat skeletons, dirt, grime and hints of sewage water on the floor. I carefully walked around sewage puddles, not wanting to make a splashing sound to give myself away.

"_Sssssoooo hungry…" _

It was close, very close. I froze and pressed myself against the wall closest to me. There was a sound of dirt being moved and rubbish being hurled. I looked into my mirror and angled it in the direction of the sound.

I was shivering, my hand was shaking badly, but I controlled myself and looked into the compact, my breath held in my throat. Rubbish and debris was being hurled aside. The sewage water puddles were being swished and splashed as the creature moved.

I saw all this in my mirror. But there was _no_ reflection of the basilisk.

I fearfully chanced a look behind the wall I was pressed against. My lips were trembling, my whole body shaking in fear. I regretted it immediately.

There it was. Long, slimy, black as ink and covered in grime and sick. A long pink tongue slithered in and out of its gaping mouth that was easily the size of Uncle Vernon's BMW and within its mouth glistened sharp fangs, each fang was the size of me. Finally, I saw but a hint of its large, terrifying, deadly red eyes.

I gulped and turned to look in my mirror, there was _still_ no reflection of the basilisk.

I turned back away from the basilisk and slid down on the floor, my back pressing into the wall, pretending it was an impenetrable barrier between me and certain death. I tried to get my breathing under control. _Think Harry_. The basilisk is real, I need to get out of this.

A basilisk is not supposed to live this long, not in theory, not on what we know about them. But this one is over a thousand years old. A basilisk is supposed to have yellow eyes, but this one's are red. A basilisk has a reflection, this one doesn't.

What dark creature is immortal, with red eyes, and has no reflection? My mind wandered back to chapter four of my Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook where we got an introduction to all the major dark creatures that wizards and witches were taught to defend themselves from. There were hinkypunks and grindylows, werewolves and-

My eyes were wide open, I gulped and felt myself heating up in terror.

A _vampire basilisk_.

This time, when the tears fell, I didn't care.


	9. Chapter 9 - Got You

I undid my supersonsory charm and crawled, slowly, carefully, away from the wall I had pressed himself against for the better part of what felt like forever, but was likely less than fifteen minutes. My startling discovery about the nature of the monster notwithstanding, I knew I would only survive for so long. While I couldn't see the beast's reflection in my mirror, I could see if the ground and debris directly behind me would move unnaturally due to some invisible force. If I saw that happening, I knew the basilisk would be coming.

I also knew that Dumbledore and the Aurors were likely trying to find me, and I was certain they eventually would. I knew I should stay put, but that plan ended as soon as I realised that the basilisk was wriggling and writhing and thrashing in different parts of the chamber, never staying in one spot for more than a few minutes. There was also tremendous movement and debris and dirt were being hauled and redistributed all over the Chamber's floor while the basilisk all but begged to no one for something to eat. It wouldn't be long before it found me, unless I found a better place to hide in or better yet, escape.

Up ahead, I spotted a collapsed archway, it looked like it could have been an exit in a different time but it was completely covered up by fallen rocks of different sizes. I quietly but quickly tried to push aside some of the them. With a deep breath, I tried to move one, but it wouldn't even budge. I stepped back and shuddered as I heard the basilisk hiss desperately in a different part of the Chamber.

"_Wingardium Leviosa._"I whispered.

The rock directly in front of me shuddered under the weight of the spell and with some effort, I managed to roll it aside. There's a reason they taught us to use the levitation charm on _feathers_, the heavier the object, the more effort it took to make the spell work.

With the rock safely placed against a wall, I reached up on my toes and looked through the tiny hole made through the wall of rocks blocking my way. I stuck my wand through the hole and incanted. "_Lumos_." A small circle of light appeared on the tip of my wand. I shook my wand lightly and the light detached itself from the tip and floated further on to light the way.

It seemed like there was a clear enough pathway on the other side of the barrier, if I could only move enough rocks to squeeze myself through before the basilisk noticed, I might actually be able to survive this. For the first time in my life, I thanked whatever higher power that existed for the Dursleys' infrequent meals throughout my childhood ensuring I was small.

I rolled my sleeves up and got to work. A few more whispered charms and another medium-sized boulder had been carefully rolled away and pressed to the side. The basilisk was still in the distance. After the third boulder moved, I could feel my breaths coming in unevenly. The magic itself wasn't hard, but maintaining the charm was strenuous.

When I refocused on the wall, I picked my next rock. I incanted and pulled a stone piece out from more of the upper-middle section of the wall. That's when I made my mistake. As the stone lodged free courtesy of my spell, I realised it was not a medium-sized stone as the other three I had pulled out had been. Rather, it was a _long _stone, with majority of its length pressed into the wall and pointing to the other side, hidden from my view. More pressingly, it was a stabilising stone for the wall and the second it was pulled out, numerous other small- and medium-sized stones came crashing down on the Chamber floor.

As I heard the stones fall, I panicked and my concentration on my levitation charm snapped. The large stone I had unwittingly pulled out also came crashing down and there was a loud _boom_ from its crash.

I was breathing heavily, but that's when I knew I was in trouble. As I had been working on the stones, I had been able to hear the basilisk move behind me, hissing away at nothing in particular, its volume was deafening. But now, I could hear myself breathe, loud and clear, in pin drop silence.

Then a flurry of noise erupted and I hiccuped. I hastily pulled out my mirror and saw debris being thrown helter-skelter as an invisible force was tearing the Chamber asunder as it made its way towards me. A beat later, I no longer needed the mirror, the sound of the basilisk's approach was getting louder.

"_Food…"_

I knew it was to my right. I turned to the left and _ran_.

#

My ears were peeled thanks to my hastily reapplied supersensory charm on my ears. I could hear the basilisk smoothly glide across the Chamber floor as it tried to find me. I could hear it rumble and hiss lowly in the back of its throat as it continued to search for its 'food'.

My breaths were laboured and not coming in easily. I felt my sides burning and sweat dribbling down my forehead as I ran. But I couldn't stop. A traitorous voice at the back of my head asked, how long could I keep this up for? I chose to ignore it with every fibre of my being.

I saw a large statue of a man's head in my direct line of sight. An austere face with a judgemental pair of eyes. Probably Salazar Slytherin. Hatred like nothing I'd ever felt before boiled within me at the mere thought of him. I felt my fingers itch as my fist around my wand grew tighter. A quick fire spell to his smug little face would feel cathartic.

_Crash!_

But I could find a way to tear up Slytherin's statue some other time, I hoped. I ran behind the statue and pressed myself to the back of the Founder's head. _Think Harry_. I knew a handful of spells. Levitation. Light. Small flames. Bluebell flames. Supersensory. Body Bind. Hair Loss. Leg Locking. Hot air and water production. Nothing in my repertoire would be quite enough to best a vampire basilisk.

I curled up on the floor. I knew the basilisk had its senses looking for me now. It was only a matter of time. I pressed myself further into the statue head's nape. The basilisk's hissing was getting louder.

"_Food…come…so hungry…"_

I felt a press of air come out of the nape of Slytherin's head. There was a small hollow space in there. Despite a millennia in this Chamber, for some reason, the basilisk had never destroyed this statute. Perhaps it held some affinity for its creator? Either way, I was out of options. I pushed myself into the hollow space. It was a tight fit, but I curled up into the tiniest ball that I could pressed myself in and pushed up until I was snugly pushed into the head of Salazar Slytherin.

The space opened up a bit more once I was through the opening and I could uncurl enough to be crouched low and lay on my elbows and knees. My whole body was warm, sweat was dripping off of me, I was trembling with fear, adrenaline and exhaustion. The basilisk was just beyond me, I could feel it.

There was a pause in all the rustling, a small pregnant calm before the storm.

Then I heard the most chilling _hiss_ imaginable. "_I ssseeee you._"

I yelped out and the statue rumbled but stayed still. Another rumble and I knew it was being pulled off of its foundations. So much for hoping for the basilisk's sentimentality for its creator.

There was a loud _crunch_ing sound and I saw a bit of light stream in from cracks in the head of the statue. The basilisk was eating off the head until it got to me.

Panic took me and I forced myself to take deeper breaths. My hands pressed on the statue headspace's floor were shaking and twitching. What could I do? The answer then struck me. Petrification. If I got petrified, the basilisk wouldn't eat me. It left petrified victims alone like it did to Fred and Alicia. A reflection wouldn't work, but maybe I could use _Aguamenti_ to create a pool of water on the Chamber floor? Maybe I could catch a reflection and eventually, when Dumbledore got here, he could sort me out afterwards? I hated my plan. But I couldn't think of anything else.

I scrambled back to the opening I came in from. I curled and twisted some and pushed myself in - choosing to go headfirst to avoid any chance of meeting the basilisk's gaze. My face pushed through first and I saw the Chamber floor once more, my glasses barely staying on my face as I stood nearly upside down.

Then the floor started to move _away_. Oh no. I felt my body loosening in the statute hollow space as gravity pushed it down and out. I struggled and some more. The statue was thrown down on the floor and I heard a crash, but I was too disorientated to focus on whatever had broken.

I felt faint and dizzy. The Chamber floor was closer and I pushed myself down and out as I heard the basilisk hiss triumphantly from above. I felt rather than saw it lunge down, likely to get at my leg. I crawled out of the space just in the nick of time as I felt the tiniest pinprick on my pant leg. I rolled away and heard the basilisk roar in defiance.

"_Ssssstay ssssstillll_._"_

I began to run. I didn't know where to go, but I knew this could not be my end. Not without a fight at least. Thus, I was incredibly surprised when the floor disappeared from under me, again, and I felt my body be picked up and _pulled _backwards. I shut my eyes, gripped my wand and prayed to every god in existence.

#

"Got you."

I felt arms snake around me and pull me into a large, strong, definitely human embrace. I opened my eyes and breathed a disbelieving sigh of relief. I turned around and caught my breath at the smiling face of Sirius Black.

"Mind if we join in on the fun?" He asked.

No. No, this was _not_ fun. I shouldn't be in this situation. I nearly died. Over and over again. The past half an hour felt like an eternity. I contemplated my death. I don't think I will ever be alright. But all I said was, "Yeah, glad to see you though."

Sirius smiled and gently placed me on the ground behind him.

Shacklebolt was to Sirius' side and he bent low and handed me a blindfold. "Be a good lad and put that on, will you?"

I nearly yelled in disbelief. A _blindfold_. Unlikely. But priorities. "Listen to me, the basilisk isn't normal. I…I think it's a vampire."

The two wizards looked at me oddly and then looked at each other. They didn't say anything, but I had a feeling they didn't believe me.

I was ready to get in to the point and repeat myself until they paid attention to me, but both of them jumped into action moments after my little declaration. Shacklebolt and Sirius were both on broomsticks and on either side of the basilisk. At the face of the basilisk was Headmaster Dumbledore.

While the basilisk couldn't kill me with its glare unless it was concentratedly looking directly at me, I still shuddered at the thought of catching its eye, even accidentally. I focused on Dumbledore. He was shockingly spry for a man who was so old. He moved and weaved and as the basilisk lunged at him. He never stopped casting, his gaze always trained to something to the side of the basilisk, never quite looking at it and keeping his eyes closed whenever possible. It was inspiring and humbling to watch him perform magic.

He was not even speaking his spells out loud and various pieces of stone and debris came flying at the basilisk and covered its face in a kind of transfigured metal cage, with the front of the cage completely sealed up and blocking the basilisk's gaze. Sirius, from atop his broomstick, spelled a few manically cawing roosters into the cage's head. The roosters fell in and presumably cawed into the basilisk's ear holes. The basilisk thrashed wildly, but eventually succumbed to the sound and fell down with a loud _thud_.

I saw Dumbledore, Shacklebolt and Sirius breathe a sigh of relief. I should feel relieved too, but I didn't. I was so sure that the basilisk was a vampire. 'Undead' as the textbook called them. A rooster's call is _fatal_. But how can something be fatal to that which is already dead? The Bloody Baron looked directly into the basilisk's eyes and it was only petrified as it couldn't die again.

Something was definitely off.

"Professor!" I yelled as I clambered to my feet. I felt a shooting pain in my left leg and nearly doubled over in surprise.

Dumbledore came rushing towards me. Sirius was hot on his heels.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

I nodded dumbly. "Professor, something…the basilisk isn't a basilisk. It's not-"

Dumbledore placed a soothing hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, it's over now."

I hissed as my leg burnt.

Dumbledore pulled back my pant leg and examined the wound. He tutted. "Is that a cut from a scrape or did the basilisk get to you? Basilisks are poisonous, Harry, think carefully. Even a little bit of their venom can eventually cause you to succumb to the poison."

A brief flash of pain when I was squeezing through Slytherin's statue popped into my head, but I pushed it aside. I had a bigger problem they needed to understand first. As I tried to reason with the Headmaster and Sirius, I saw from the corner of my eye as Shacklebolt slowly made his way to the basilisk. He was maybe a few metres away from its metal covered head. I called out to warn him of, I wasn't sure about what, but I was too slow.

The seemingly dead basilisk reared up and smashed its head down on the Chamber floor. It was only a matter of a few moments. My warning to Shacklebolt was still not out of my throat completely. Dumbledore and Sirius were back on their feet, wands pointed.

Dumbledore's metal face prison came undone. Shacklebolt was stood right in front of the basilisk and he stared in surprise straight into its red eyes. I watched as Dumbledore and Sirius incanted something to pull him back to where we were huddled. I saw Shacklebolt's navel hitch as the spell caught him. But his upper torso was already limp. Before he could get pulled though, the basilisk lashed out and bit into his upper body, tearing it messily off.

Shacklebolt's disembodied and misshapen lower half came sailing through the air and was deposited on the floor in front of us. Blood and the remains of organs came oozing out.

"Hmm, interesting," Sirius said.

#

I was in shock. That's all I could say about what happened next. Dumbledore erected some kind of protective cone in the wall and shoved me in it. I was safe from the basilisk's gaze, but I could still hear as the battle raged on. It was a bit of a blur to be honest.

Dumbledore and Sirius were talking, _talking_, as they fought the beast. Apparently, they couldn't send me out because _port_ _keys_ didn't work down here, whatever those were. They had sent for help but without the Headmaster to guide the Aurors in, they would never find this place.

I, for the most part, felt completely numb. I knew I should have been more worried, but it's like my brain could not quite compute what I had just witnessed.

Shacklebolt was dead.

"Conjunctivitis curse?" Sirius yelled.

A few minutes of thrashing and the basilisk roared in pain, then renewed thrashing.

"It regenerates fast." Dumbledore called out.

Well, of course it regenerates. It's a vampire basilisk. No matter what we do to it, it will regenerate. The only way to kill an undead beast was fire or by driving a wooden stick into its heart. Wood was a naturally occurring vampire killer. It's why vampiric clans were always in cities and _far away_ from forests and woods. Fire was pointless too, the basilisk's hide was too strong for that.

"Fiendfyre?" Sirius yelled again. I wondered what that was.

"Uncontrollable with a beast this big." Dumbledore answered.

More thrashing in the background.

I sighed. I fingered my wand unconsciously and looked down at it. Holly and phoenix feather. A curious wand. Made of wood. I gripped the wand tight as a mad idea struck me.

I pulled myself up and moaned in pain and fell back down into my cocoon. My leg was definitely burning and I winced at the feeling of it. So long as I stayed unmoving, it didn't hurt, but now that I knew it was there, I knew it was spreading. I think Dumbledore had been right, I had a feeling the basilisk had nicked me.

More sounds of things crashing and burning came from outside the cocoon. I gulped.

According to my reading, the tracest amounts of basilisk venom would kill a person over the span of half an hour at most. I had been in this space for not more than five minutes and the others hadn't been in the Chamber for longer than ten minutes in total. So I maybe had another twenty minutes, probably less, before it was all over.

I glared at my wand with renewed vigour. It didn't seem like the others were going to prevail anytime soon. A momentary image of Shacklebolt's disembodied remains came to my mind and I choked as tears pricked my eyes. He was dead. I saw him die. Right in front of my eyes. His son would never see him again.

_He was dead._

…

_No_. NO. Snap _out of it_. I have to do this. I have to. Otherwise…otherwise his death would be meaningless…

…and so would mine.

I pulled myself out of the cocoon and daringly chanced a look at the battlefield. The basilisk seemed to have changed tactics sensing that its opponents were craftier and stronger. It seemed to be strategically retreating and then attacking its pursuers. Dumbledore was trying to chain it into another metal cage, but the basilisk was having none of it. Without the roosters, nothing could keep it subdued and I figured the basilisk had made short work of those after the first bout.

With slow breaths, I stepped out of the cocoon, my leg burning momentarily and then settling into a dull ache after a few moments of movement. I had one hand on the wall outcropping to stabilise myself and another around my wand. The basilisk was heading back my way and it was now or never.

I summoned all my strength and courage and _ran towards_ the beast and for the first time, I hissed at it. "_Come and get me you giant sssstupid ssssnake._"

The basilisk abruptly changed directions and I snapped my eyes shut to avert its gaze. I turned around and opened my eyes.

"Harry, what are you-" I heard Sirius yell but his voice was drowned out. I saw him flying towards me on his broomstick, but he was on the other side of the Chamber. His wand was pointed at me and he was going to try to pull me towards him again. I jumped behind a stone to hide myself from his spell range. I could hear him curse.

The basilisk was upon me, I felt it. I climbed up on the stone as I heard its hissing close in on me.

"_Mine_!"

I opened my eyes and looked up just a split second before. I was thankfully greeted with the sight, not of its eyes, but its luxury car-sized open maw. In the second its fangs were to close around me, I jumped with my wand pointed downwards and blasting hot air like a small rocket to give me an extra push. I jumped right into its mouth.

#

I tumbled in the dark, rolled a bit and I quickly called out. _"__Epoximise_._"_ A sticky substance got on my hand and I slammed my hand to the roof of the basilisk's mouth and halted my tumble.

"_Lumos_." My wand tip lit up with a small ball of light and I nearly cried when I saw the venom and saliva all around me. On me. I shut my mouth, not wanting to ingest any of the venom and hasten my demise. I had stuck myself at a point that left me mere centimetres from the basilisk's sharp fangs. Silver lining.

Abruptly, my centre of gravity tilted on its axis as I imagine the basilisk moved its head upwards to swallow me whole. I took the opportunity to go with gravity and tumble down the basilisk's gullet.

As I fell, I shook my wand and various little _lumos _light bubbles flew from my wand tip and illuminated my way. I had seen an image of the insides of a basilisk in one of my textbooks and this mad plan had been born from that insane idea. Faster than I thought possible, I saw the basilisk's breathing pipe come up.

"_Epoximise__._" I stuck my free hand on the side of the pipe. It was coated in snake body goo, which I tried not to think about too much. But the goo would not let my adhesive stick. It slowed my momentum, but I continued to slide downwards, albeit at a slower pace.

Abruptly, my centre of gravity changed again, I imagined as the snake was pushed down or it moved again. I managed to keep my eyes focused as I slipped - pure adrenaline drove me now.

I knew it had to come up soon. It had to.

_There!_

Surrounded by a protective ribcage, the heart of the undead beast. The only organ that continued to have a function - to pump the blood sucked out of its victims.

I unstuck my arm from the breathing pipe. I winced as I glances at my palm to see that much of the skin had been sloughed off by the adhesive and the bodily goo of the basilisk. But I was distracted from any horror as my speed of descent intensified.

"_Epoximise._" With enough adhesive on my free hand, I grabbed on to the basilisk's ribcage. Miraculously, the adhesive stuck and I held on.

My world rattled and shook, like an earthquake was occurring around me. My head spun as I felt the venom in my body shoot stronger lances of pain up my left leg. My free hand burnt as bits of bone stuck out. But I didn't scream. I was dead anyway.

With my wand in my mouth, I somehow managed to pull myself up and onto the rib. Everything shook, but I held on. My ruined palm kept me on the giant rib as my legs crossed around it and maintained my position.

I gazed beyond at the source of my journey and got my first proper look at the heart. It was weird-shaped, not like the picture I had seen which had depicted it as some kind of perfect three-dimensional oval. This was messily round with a few rounded edges, it had veins and arteries sticking out of it, it was red and glowing and _ugly_ and it _pulsed_, which I guessed meant it was beating.

I grabbed my wand in my free hand from my mouth and looked at it. Holly. Good enough to be a stake. The basilisk continued to shake violently at this point. I had one shot at this.

"For Shack." I whispered.

I braced my feet for a split second by crouching on the rib bone. I then pulled my ruined palm off of the basilisk's rib and I didn't even feel the pain despite seeing all the leftover skin from my palm slough off. It was all muscle, bone, blood and sinew now.

I jumped. Wand aloft in my hand, _lumos_ bubbles merrily bounced around me and lit my way. I pointed myself right at the basilisk's heart and led with my wand like a murderer's dagger.

"Die!" I yelled.

I was upon it. The holly stick pierced the heart of the basilisk and I pushed it right in. I thought of Kingsley and his son. I thought of Alicia and Fred and Mr. Filch. I thought of all the students of this school. I thought of Hogwarts. My first real home.

"_Incendio_," I said for good measure and set the heart ablaze from inside.

For a second, nothing happened. Then the heart stopped pulsing. The world turned sideways. My wand and I were pulled out of the basilisk's heart and I went tumbling towards the ribcage.

"_Epoximise__."_ I pointed my wand to my chest, covering my ruined robes in the adhesive.

I smashed onto a rib and my chest stuck on. There was a crash and I shook violently as I hung suspended.

I tried to stay awake. I had done it. I had _done_ it.

The venom was now burning in my chest. It was burning all over my body. I felt hot. The pain in my ruined palm was palpable now. I looked at it absent-mindedly, admiring the view of the muscle and bone, usually hidden underneath my skin that I had never seen before, but I always knew was there. I giggled. I don't know why.

The last thought I had was about something clever Dumbledore had said about regrets. Then everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10 - Where Is It

Strange. It feels strange and off. Lances of ideas and thoughts race through.

"_Please, no, not Harry, I'll do anything!"_

Lost in worlds.

"_Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery…"_

Finding nothing in them.

"_One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode."_

What can be seen?

"_I mean, it's sort of exciting isn't it? Breaking the rules."_

Rules break.

Roaming in these shadows of words, of ideas, of thoughts, of _memories_. There is this space and like it many others and none at all. Nirvana and damnation are knocking.

Some _thing_ stands - exists - moves - stays - no, stands, It He She We They Flickering. It is being yet nothing. Hands - _hands?_ \- hands behind, clasped. Looking away.

Worlds within worlds within worlds within worlds.

A likely story - _fact_ \- tale told. Telling.

Soft.

#

You woke up from what felt like the nuttiest fever dream imaginable. You put your hand on your head to stave off the headache that was building up. You looked around and somehow, you were in a Gryffindor dormitory with multiple beds instead of your singular Hufflepuff dorm.

"Wake up mate! Happy Christmas!" A familiar-looking redhead, about your age, burst through the curtains of the four-poster bed you were lying in and sat down while eating a chocolate frog. He had a bit of dirt on his nose.

He looked up at you askance and tilted his head in confusion at your expression. He looked down at his half-eaten chocolate frog and then back at you. "Did you want one?"

"I-"

#

With a groan I came to. My head was pounding. There was a sharp pain in my left leg and arm. I was suspended in the air. It was damp.

Who - what - who was that?

I squinted in the dark and coughed. Right, I was inside the basilisk and presently, stuck to its rib. The basilisk was no longer flailing about or moving. I turned back to look at its heart. The ugly oblong thing was no longer pulsing. I hoped that meant that I had succeeded.

I coughed and spat out some black bile and a little bit of blood. It was a testament to how exhausted I was that this sight only caused the mildest of alarm bells to go off in my head. But, I was alive, inside a dead vampire basilisk's body, but alive nonetheless, for now.

My arm felt as heavy as an anvil, but I laboured through the motions of the general spell nullifier to undo my sticking charm. It took a few tries as my wand movements were sloppy, but finally I said, "_Finite Incantatem._" The adhesive disappeared and I slid off the rib and fell down a few metres onto the basilisk's hide.

I groaned as I _thwacked_ onto the inner surface of its hide. I tried to get up but my legs gave out and I fell back down. I could feel the venom was coursing through me. I looked up ahead in the darkness. I didn't even have the energy to cast a _lumos_ right now, let along run to the basilisk's mouth and escape and survive. Besides, who knew how long I had been unconscious while stuck to its rib? Perhaps, it was time to give up and just drift off…

That's when I felt an odd sensation. I was on all fours and I felt my body slowly sink _into_ the basilisk's skin. I looked down in wonder and idly thought if it was possible for a dead vampire basilisk to still somehow digest me?

What am I forgetting?

Vampires…_so tired_…vampire upon being staked begin to…what was it again? Deteriorate? Desiccate? Turn to dust.

My eyes snapped open despite the lulling embrace of unconsciousness. The basilisk was desiccating now that it was dead. Could I then…?

I pointed my wand at the basilisk's skin and, hoping against hope, incanted. "_Incendio_."

Fire sprouted from my holly wand obediently and somehow seemed to _pierce_ _through_ the basilisk's skin...insides…corpse…whatever. Maybe, just maybe, I might survive this.

Emboldened by my latest discovery, I pointed my wand at the patch of skin forming a wall to my side and said louder, ironing my will and throwing everything I had into the spell. "_INCENDIO!_"

The basilisk's insides were ablaze and the skin wall melted away. Slowly, but it did. I threw the spell at it a few more times and it was seemingly flaking away. With each invocation of the fire spell, my breaths grew more laboured and my body tired. The adrenaline had left my system and I now acutely felt the abject pain in my ruined non-wand hand.

I threw the fire spell maybe five or six times at the same spot when a hole the size of a fist was left behind. A stream of light came shinning into the basilisk's inside. Through the hole, I vaguely made out the inside of Slytherin's cursed Chamber of Secrets.

One more fire spell and the hole had expanded from fist-sized to face-sized. My hand fell down next to me like lead. I couldn't even hold it up to point anymore. The basilisk venom had seemingly taken over it as well and there was no more pushing it.

This can't be it. I can't be this close and…come on, Harry. _Come on!_

I roared and lifted my arm, fire burnt through every fibre of my being in protest. I pointed the wand at the basilisk skin wall and yelled angrily. "_INCENDIO!_"

I missed my intended target area of the skin wall by a huge margin, my aim was completely off. I screamed in anger as my body burnt and my vision swam.

But somehow, the face-sized hole in the basilisk's side opened up rapidly, seemingly of its own volition. Light streamed into the dead insides of Slytherin's beast. My eyes stung with the sudden onslaught of light and I closed my eyes and looked away for a moment. I knew then that I would likely fall asleep and succumb to the venom if I kept my eyes closed any longer. I forced myself to look back.

From the light, I saw two figures emerge with wands raised.

"H-H-Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

I coughed and looked right at him. "Help." I whispered.

#

What happened next was confusing for me. I couldn't recount the details if I tried. There was a flurry of motion. I was moved out of the basilisk and brought into the light. Dumbledore and Sirius kept talking to each other but it was hard for me to focus on what they were saying for longer than a few seconds at a time. I did pass out a few times, but Dumbledore or Sirius kept using a spell to wake me up. That made sense, falling unconscious would only speed up the venom's effects.

At some point I was moved to the Hospital Wing and I was certain I heard Madam Pomfrey yelp. I assumed that was when she got a look at me.

I had brief moments of lucidity. Time seemed to stretch on. Sometimes the pain was so bad it blocked out all other conscious thought. At one point, when the pain seemed to reach its zenith, my mind was snapped into laser-focused attention. I heard distant screaming. I couldn't move. My eyes roved from side to side of the hospital. They landed on the Headmaster. He was sat next to me. He was crying while he held my hand. I then realised that the distant screams I had heard were my own. Idly, I was almost impressed by my own lung capacity.

After a point, I stopped having conscious thoughts and there was only pain. Truthfully, that was the loveliest time of this experience in its own way. After a while, the pain seemed to recede into the background and my mind…wandered.

There were no thoughts, nothing intelligible. I saw colours, some shapes, a lot of light followed by long moments of darkness as the pain reasserted itself, almost as if punishing me for daring to ignore it, if only momentarily.

Eventually, I was allowed to pass out. That was the moment I believed that there was something in this world that could be true bliss.

#

My vision swam as I slowly came to. A part of me instinctively tensed up expecting the pain to resurface. But mercifully, it seemed to be over. I sighed in relief and opened my eyes completely.

I was definitely in a hospital bed - a private one. The door to my room was closed and sunlight came streaming in through the window to my right. I could see the world beyond and it definitely didn't look like the Scottish highlands.

The door to my room opened and a team of doctors came trotting in, led by a middle-aged woman who had a light soft brown hair and wide, kind brown eyes. She regarded me with a nod and a small smile.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter," she said. "My name is Healer Tonks. These are my colleagues, Healers Kirby, Law and Perry." She individually indicated the three healers in her retinue who gave me small smiles in turn.

I nodded. "Where am I?"

Healer Tonks blinked and answered without missing a beat. "You are currently at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. You were initially being treated at Hogwarts School, however, once you were stable enough to travel through the Floo, we moved you here for your longer term care."

"Where's Dumbledore?" I was beginning to feel tired and a huge yawn seemingly involuntarily escaped me. "I'm sorry," I said and covered my mouth.

"We have informed him that you woke up. But we told him to come by tomorrow, you're unlikely to have enough strength to meet with him pre-"

Her words faded out and my eyes shut.

#

When I woke up next it was to the sight of Dumbledore reading a book in a chair next to me. I felt stiff and parched. It took me a few seconds but I managed to eke out a word.

"H-Headmaster," I said.

Dumbledore turned to me in a second and put away his book on the table next to my bed. He leaned forward, his hands placed over each other and resting on the bed next to me.

"Har- Mr. Potter," he said. "I cannot describe how happy I am to hear your voice."

I tried to smile but I'm not sure I pulled it off. "Call me Harry."

He nodded. "How do you feel?"

"S'okay, a little pain, but…not like…before."

He immediately looked stricken at the mention of it, but wiped that expression of his face. "I am sure you are feeling disorientated right now. We can discuss the full particulars of your choice of letting yourself be eaten by a basilisk in the future-"

I winced.

"-for now, you should know that you are under the effects of some powerful potions to help keep you calm and aid in your recovery. Mr. Potter - Harry, the venom had spread through your leg and into most of your body. It took the healers the better part of a fortnight to drain it out of you and get you in the clear. However, the attack has left its mark."

I looked up at the ceiling and breathed deeply. "How long's it been?"

"Since the incident in the Chamber, it has been more than a month. The school reopened as planned at the end of the Yule break and has been in session for nearly a month now."

So that brought us somewhere to the end of January. A whole month of my life was gone, that was…very unsettling.

"Harry, there has been…you must understand that your body has been through an unimaginable trauma in its fight against the venom that infected you. Your leg…"

I turned my head to look at him. I then tried to feel my leg-

-And couldn't.

With effort, including Dumbledore's help, I managed to sit up in my bed. I then slowly placed my hand on my left leg. My hand went right through the space my left leg should have occupied and pressed on to the soft mattress.

"Where is it?"

I was glad that in that moment my mind was fuzzy because of all the potions I had been fed. Yet despite them, I felt the telltale moisture of tears accumulating in my eyes. I knew then that my task, my burden, my destiny, had now gone from unbearable to impossible.

#

"That's good, Harry. A few more steps," Healer Perry said.

He was certainly my favourite healer at St. Mungo's. Ever since I had woken up at the hospital, he had been placed in charge of my daily schedule and my rehabilitation.

I took a deep breath and let it out as I tried to balance on my legs and take another step. My new left leg, the prosthetic one, was versatile enough and looked a lot like my old leg at least in size and shape. Healer Tonks assured me that with time and practice, it would feel like I had never lost my leg at all.

Every day I aimed to walk a little more with the assistance of Healer Perry within the walls of St. Mungo's. I was promised that I would be allowed to return to school after I could walk unaided for longer than an hour. They predicted it would take me six to eight weeks to get to that point. I was determined to be out of St. Mungo's before the end of February if I could help it.

That meant pushing myself, and darn it, it was hard!

"Alright, Harry, this brings us back to your room. Well done, you managed to make it all the way round the ward in record time without any breaks. Keep this up and you will be out of here sooner than you think." He laughed.

I tried to smile but couldn't manage it through my heavy breaths and the sweat dripping off my forehead. The mechanism of the prosthetic leg was such that they had rigged it into my central nervous system or at least, that's how Healer Tonks had described it to me. My body, though, was rejecting the fake magical nerves as unnatural. Hence, the physical rehabilitation and constant practice was to slowly get my body to accept the magical nerves created to connect my new leg to my body as if it had been there all along.

"Hello, Harry."

I was stumbling into my room, one arm rested on Healer Perry for balance and the other on the door when I looked up in surprise.

"H-hello, Mr. Moody," I said.

The grizzly Auror was as terrifying as ever and his magical eye rotated in circles constantly as he regarded me with his one normal eye. He looked down and surveyed my leg.

"Matthew," he said in greeting to Healer Perry.

"Ah, Mr. Moody, good to see you. Do you need me to oil up your leg again?" He asked cheerfully.

Moody grunted. "I'm here to talk to the boy."

Healer Perry nodded and exited, reminding me to drink my potions and that he would be back to see me in the evening.

I hobbled over to my bed and sank with relief. It was nice to be off my prosthetic after all that practice.

"It will take a while, but eventually, you will adapt to it," he said.

I nodded. There was a pause when neither of us spoke. "Is there is something you wanted to say to me, Mr. Moody?" I finally asked.

He stood up straight and regarded me closely. "The healers are going to tell you that the new leg is going to be as good as new, that in time, you won't be able to tell the difference between this one and the _right_ one. That is an exaggeration. Make no mistake boy, you _are_ disabled, but there is _no_ _reason_ for you to ever feel handicapped."

I gulped and looked down. It had been eating me up on the inside for some time. I hadn't really stopped to think about it, being singularly focused on my discharge back to Hogwarts, but I wondered what life would be like back at the school and considering…the prophecy. Moody seemed to know what was going on in my mind, well, that made sense, give he too had a prosthetic leg. I eyed it speculatively. Once I got to know Moody, I did forget about it altogether. He was simply that good, despite his limp.

"I have spoken with Dumbledore and Longbottom and they have asked me to give you some additional lessons in mobility once you're back at Hogwarts."

I was surprised by this. "Thank you, Mr. Moody. I- Thank you."

"You will need time and therapy. I will be receiving updates from Healer Tonks and Madam Pomfrey and when they deem you ready, we will begin your lessons."

I nodded appreciatively. Mr. Moody had lost his leg during the last war with Voldemort, but he had continued to serve as an Auror for more than a decade after. His disability had not held him back from catching dark wizards and acquiring his most fearsome reputation. In that sense, magic was a great equaliser.

"We will be in touch, lad." He departed with those words.

As I rested my aching hip and drank my potions, for the first time since encountering the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, I allowed myself to feel a small spark of hope.

#

I didn't manage to get back to school for the entire Winter Term despite my best efforts. But by the end of Easter Break, Healer Tonks finally discharged me. I couldn't describe to you what that feels like. Aside from the few trips I made to the enchanted garden within the hospital, I had not left the hospital premises a single time.

At the very least, I was grateful that a teacher from the school came to see me at least four times every week and go over my lessons with me. Their combined efforts ensured that I had not fallen behind at all during my convalescence. Cedric had come to meet me a few times, along with Patricia and Maggie Taylor and even Roger Davies. Those short visits were definitely the highlights of my time at St. Mungo's.

Having donned by school robes, I was a bundle of excitement as Dumbledore came to collect me from St. Mungo's. We apparated to the gates of the school. At the sight of the Castle, my heart swelled with joy. It look luminous and warm in the cold night sky. I felt like it was calling me home.

Flitwick was waiting on the other side of the gate. He squealed upon seeing me and favoured me with a bright grin.

"It is wonderful to have you back, Mr. Potter." He undid the latch at the gate and creaked it open to let us in.

I confidently walked in. The gate creaked close behind me. The Headmaster remained standing there. I turned around to give him a curious look.

"Professor?"

Flitwick gave Dumbledore a sad smile. "Thank you for bringing him, Albus."

"I was more than happy to, Filius," he responded. "Take care of yourself, Harry."

I was very confused. "Professor? What do you-"

With a _crack_ of apparition, he was gone.

I blinked in consternation and regarded Flitwick, the question clear in my eyes. "What did I miss, Professor?"

Flitwick hemmed and hawed uncomfortably. I could tell he was emotional about the topic. "Mr. Potter…" He trailed off uncertainly. "I take it you have not been keeping up with the latest news?"

I blinked. "Umm… I don't really read the newspaper, Professor." I shrugged.

"Ah, I see, I see…" He scratched his little beard. He started walking towards the castle and I followed. After a moment, he came out with it. "Well, Dumbledore had to shoulder a lot of the blame for the fallout of the Chamber business. It was one thing to lose an experienced and respected Auror like Shacklebolt, but, well, for the Boy Who Lived to also suffer near-fatal injuries and be well…permanently affected by the incident, well… Albus, you see, he had been on thin ice for some time now, but this whole affair was the last straw that broke the camel's back and the Board of Governors, well, they encouraged Albus to retire…"

With every word spoken by eyes grew wider in shock. Dumbledore had been…sacked? "I see. I'm-I'm sorry to hear that."

Dumbledore had only been my Headmaster for a very short period of time. But even then, I knew in my bones, it was a monumental shift. I also resolved to read the newspaper more often. Clearly, I had been out of the loop for far too long.

"So who is the Headmaster now?"

Flitwick cleared his throat and chose his next words carefully. "The Board asked Professor McGonagall to step up. She had been the Deputy Headmistress for two decades now. But she declined. As did the entirety of the senior staff when asked. So the Board is on the hunt for a new Headmaster or Headmistress even now."

As we stepped up to the Great Hall, Flitwick kindly helped me up the stairs from the main courtyard into the Entrance Hall, my mind was awhirl with the various changes.

Flitwick opened the door and I got my first good look at the Hogwarts population. All conversation stopped and every eye turned to regard me. It was extremely nerve-wracking. My footsteps echoed in the silence as I made my way to Cedric, who was near the front of the Hufflepuff Table. Slowly, conversation resumed, but I could tell every eye was on me, trailing my path.

I gave Cedric a genuine smile upon seeing him and he gave me a warm one-armed hug as I sat down. The benches were a little difficult to navigate. I was still not as good at lifting my prosthetic leg up, but practice made perfect after all.

"What was that about?" I asked Cedric.

He quirked an eyebrow.

"The silence when I walked in. It felt…I don't how to describe it."

Cedric blushed slightly and cleared his throat. "Ah that...There are some people in some of the other Houses who are upset about Dumbledore's removal. Those articles in the _Daily Prophet_ also didn't help…"

"Do people blame me for him getting sacked?"

Cedric shrugged. "Not everyone mind, just…a lot of the Gryffindors."

I turned in incredulity to the House of the Bold who were sat at the table at the far end behind me. Indeed, now that Cedric had pointed it out, it seemed that I was receiving a few hostile stares from the Lions. George Weasley in particular favoured me with an especially angry scowl.

I quickly looked away. My heart sank.

This was shaping up to be an interesting term at Hogwarts.


End file.
